Authors: A S Adenaike A O Mabunmi M I Takeet O D Adenaike C O N Ikeobi
Publish Date: 2016/07/27
Volume: 48, Issue: 7, Pages: 1443-1447
Abstract
In an effort to shed more light on the tolerance of indigenous chickens to coccidiosis we compared the body weight faecal oocyst load and haematological parameters based on sex and genotypes of Eimeria tenellainfected chickens Three hundred chicks from three genotypes normalfeathered frizzlefeathered and nakedneck of Nigerian indigenous chickens which comprised 100 birds per genotype were raised for 6 weeks At 3 weeks old each chick was weighed and faecal and blood samples were collected before inoculation Subsequently the birds were weighed and faecal samples collected at days 1 3 6 9 12 and 15 postinoculation Blood samples were collected from 50 chicks per genotype at 3 and 5 weeks postinoculation Blood parameters were determined and faecal samples subjected to McMaster egg counting technique Results showed genotype and sex had significant effects on body weight from day 1 to 15 postinoculation Normalfeathered chicks had the highest body weight while frizzlefeathered chicks showed lowest body weight at postinoculation E tenella was identified in caecal and lower intestinal mucosa of the genotypes but genotype had no significant effect p 005 on the lesion score There were no significant differences in haematological values among genotypes p 005 except for lymphocytes where nakedneck chicks had the highest lymphocytes’ count 183 ± 002 followed by normalfeathered 179 ± 002 and the frizzlefeathered 168 ± 002 The present values of body weight faecal oocyst and haematological parameters obtained seemed not to be convincing enough to suggest that the genotypes were different in terms of tolerance to coccidiosis
Keywords: