Prevalence of Gastro Intestinal Cestodes in Backyard Chickens in District Tando Allahyar

| In order to study the prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard (Desi) chickens in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province, the present study was intended during August to November 2012. A total of 90 samples were examined in randomly selected 18 villages of three Tehsils (Taluka) in district Tando Allahyar. The result showed that backyard chickens in district Tando Allahyar were severely infected by gastrointestinal cestodes. The Tehsil wise infection rate was found 66.6, 70 and 80%, in Tehsil Tando Allahyar, Chamber and Jhando Mari respectively. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes recorded in district Tando Allahyar was 72.2%. Furthermore, five cestodes species were observed which include Davainea proglottina (10%), Raillietina tetragona (31.1%), Raillietina cesticillus (14.45%), Choanotaenia infundibulum (7.78%) and Raillietina echinobothrida (17.78%), while 18.89% of the birds were infected by more than one species of cestodes parasite. The current study revealed that backyard chicken maintained in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province are at high risk of gastrointestinal cestode infection. Therefore, the situation calls for minimizing the risk of cestodes by giving emphasis on control of cestodes infection through adopting standard management, proper and balance feeding, limiting the contact of poultry with the intermediate hosts of parasites and proper use of anthelminthics to reduce the losses in term of low meat and egg production.


Journal of Animal Health and Production
January 2016 | Volume 4 | Issue 1 | Page 27 (Sonaiya and Swan, 2004).Backyard poultry production is an important economic activity in about 80 % families of the country (Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-14).The contribution of rural poultry in total eggs and poultry meat production of the country has been estimated about 29.23 and 12.76 percent (Pakistan Economic Survey 2013-14).Unfortunately, backyard poultry in villages has not operated to its maximum potential due to lake of technical expertise and health coverage (Bhatti et al., 1991).In addition to many bacterial and viral diseases, the gastrointestinal cestodes parasitism is one of the major threats to rural poultry.The heavy infestation to parasitic eggs causing heavy economic losses in term of retarded growth, reduced weight gain and low production (Puttalakshmamma et al., 2008).
The gastrointestinal cestodes parasites causes decrease in egg production, diarrhea, obstruction of intestine, morbidity, significant hemoglobin depression and high mortality rate in backyard chicken (Katoch et al., 2012;Magwisha et al., 2002).Due to lack of proper housing system in rural areas backyard poultry are more prone to eggs of parasite and there is high mortality in these birds as compared to those who are provided proper shelter and immunization (Farooq et al., 2002).Insects also, play a significant role in causing cestodes infection in poultry specially Raillietina tetragona infection, as Desi birds are more prone to insects therefore, they suffer more as compared to those who are reared in controlled environment (Mohammed et al., 1988).Furthermore, the indigenous backyard (Desi) poultry in villages are kept with the use of no or few anti-helminthes and vaccination leading to low meat and eggs production.Keeping in view the importance of gastrointestinal cestodes parasites in backyard chicken the present study was intended in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province, Pakistan to record the prevalence rate and to identify the cestodes species existing in the area.

MATERIAL AND METHOD experiMentAl design
For the present study, a total of 90 adult backyard chickens of both sexes were collected from randomly selected 18 villages i.e., five chickens per village in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province from August to November 2012.Visits to different villages were made to collect the samples.The live birds from each village were randomly selected and brought to the laboratory of Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam.

gross exAMinAtion oF the gAstrointestinAl trAct For presence oF cestodes
Humane slaughtering of birds was carried out, after that the birds were dipped in water to avoid feathers sheading.Both the femurs were dislocated and abdominal cavity was exposed through incision at peritoneum with scalpel.The gastrointestinal tracts were excised and then transferred to Petri dish.For detailed examination and identification of cestodes parasite a longitudinal section from duodenum to cloaca including cecum was made very carefully; and any cestode parasite detected were removed with the help of tissue forceps, counted and washed in normal saline.After washing the cestodes were preserved in a glass bottle containing 10% formalin as per procedure followed by Dar and Tanveer (2013).

identiFicAtion oF cestode pArAsite
For identification of cestodes the permanent mounts on the glass slides were made, by extending the cestodes in warm water through vigorous shaking for 20 seconds.The water temperature was fixed according to size of cestodes i.e., 65°C for less than 3 inches long, 70°C for medium sized and 75°C to 80°C for large sized cestodes parasite.Fixation was done with 10% formalin.After that dehydration was carried out with different concentrations of alcohol (70%, 80%, 90% and 100% (absolute) for two hours in each.Then stained in hematoxylin and cleared with xylene (Cable-Raymond, 1963).After this the parasites were mounted on glass slides and a drop of Canada balsam was applied and covered with cover slip.Various parts of cestodes were examined under stereo microscope using 40X and 100X Objectives.Different species of cestodes were identified according to their morphological characteristics such as head (scolex), neck, body (strobilus), segments (proglottids), reproductive organs and suckers (Soulsby and Helminthes, 1986).

stAtisticAl AnAlysis
The data collected were processed through descriptive statistics using SPSS 16. (SPSS 2006, USA).

DISCUSSION
The results of the present study showed a variable prevalence of cestodes parasite in backyard (Desi) chicken in district Tando Allahyar.It might be due the scavenging habit of the birds and changes in the environment in the study area.Furthermore, the findings of the current study coincides with those previously elucidated by Bano et al. (1989)

CONCLUSION
The results of the present study revealed that backyard chicken maintained in rural areas of district Tando Allahyar were exposed to very high prevalence and infection with multiple cestodes species.In comparison with other cestodes species R. tetragona was highly prevalent.Therefore, the emphasis should be given on control of cestodes parasite in backyard poultry by adopting standard management, proper and balance feeding, limiting the contact of poultry with the intermediate hosts of parasites and use of proper antihelminthics to reduce the losses in term of low meat and egg production.

Table 1 :
Prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard chicken in Tehsil Tando Allahyar

Table 2 :
Prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard chicken in Tehsil Chamber

Table 3 :
Prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard chicken in Tehsil Jhando Mari

Table 4 :
Overall prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard chicken in district Tando Allahyar

Table 5 :
Percentage of different cestode species identified from backyard chicken

Name of cestode species No. of host infected Percentage
do Mari (80%) Followed by Chamber (70%), while lowest at Tando Allahyar which was 66.66% (Table4).The overall prevalence of cestodes in Desi chicken in district Tando Allahyar was 72.2%.During the detailed examination of , they reported 75 percent cestodes infection causing huge economic losses in rural poultry.Anwar et al.  (1989)also, recorded 74.6 percent prevalence of cestodes in indigenous chicken.Similarly; the results of the current investigations were in accordance with those of Jatoi et al. (2013).The researchers revealed 55 to 60.77 percent cestodes infection in Desi chicken in district Larkana of Sindh province.Berhanu et al. (2014) reported 84.8 to 89.9 percent prevalence of cestodes in scavenging chicken in and around Southern Ethiopia from October 2010 to April 2011 which are little bit higher than the results of the present study intended in district Tando Allahyar.Moreover, in accordance with the present survey Farooq et al. (2002) also collected 64% cestodes from Desi fowl., and R. cesticillus in non-commercial free-ranged poultry flock.The present study also, showed heavy infection of Desi birds with R. tetragona which is similar with the findings of Fatihu et al. (1990), they expressed that domestic birds were infected exclusively with R. tetragona.In another study intended by Tuli (1989) found five cestode species in free range poultry including R. tetragona, R. cesticillus, R. echinobothrida, Davainea proglottina and C. infundibulum.The worker also, illustrated that R. tetragona was highly prevalent while C. infundibulum was less prevalent which is strongly in favor of the present study.The variation in the prevalence of infested species in backyard chicken may be due to different climate and availability of the intermediate host of parasite and certain host factors including immune response of the birds.