Impacts of Poultry Farm Management Techniques on Control of Salmonella

Abstract

Despite Salmonella control interventions in live poultry production, incidences of poultry Salmonella infection have not stopped. These studies evaluated effects of management practices on Salmonella transmission in chicken.

Probiotic product was examined in hens. The hens were fed probiotics in ratio 2.6:1 g/ kg of the probiotic to feed and challenged with 10.2 log10 CFU/ 3 mL of antibiotics resistant Salmonella Enteritidis 4 times in 6 months. There was no difference between the prevalence and concentration of Salmonella in the eggs laid and cecal shedding by either the probiotic fed hens (1.7 % and 2.75 log10 CFU/ g) or control fed birds (2.6 % and 2.95 log10 CFU/ g).

Five out of the twenty-five broiler chicks were orally challenged with antibiotics resistant Salmonella Typhimurium and reared in pens lit with either 5 or 50 lux. Blood of the seeder birds was collected and analyzed for leukocyte and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio. There was no difference between the prevalence of Salmonella in the contact birds reared under any of the lighting intensities. But the cecal concentration of Salmonella was higher in the birds reared under 50 lux (P = 0.011). There was no difference between the concentration of leukocyte and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio in the blood of birds raised under either of both light intensities.

Similarly, the impact of rearing birds under either continuous or intermittent lighting from 10 to 20 d was studied. The prevalence and concentration of Salmonella was higher in the contact birds reared under continuous lighting (P = 0.0002 and > 0.0001 respectively). There was no difference between the leukocyte and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio concentration in the blood of both groups of birds.

Effect of ambient temperature from 2 to 4 wk on Salmonella transmission in birds suggested that the prevalence of Salmonella was lower in the crops and liver-spleen of contact birds raised in elevated ambient temperature. There was a difference between the indicators of stress in the birds. Birds reared under elevated ambient temperature were significantly stressed in comparison to the birds reared under normal ambient temperature.

Light intensity, scheme and ambient temperature may affect prevalence of Salmonella in ceca, crop and liver-spleen of young birds.