Abstract
The world's poultry population is on the ascendency as a result of the high demand for poultry product by consumers. In Africa, poultry meat is estimated to represent almost 25% of all meat, whereas in some areas it covers 100% of the animal protein available. The high demand for poultry products has led to an increase in poultry production in almost all African countries including Ghana, with the domestic chicken being the most kept. The sector has been reported to have recorded a drop in production, partly due to infection of birds by diseases, causing organisms including parasites. The study conducted was to investigate the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in local and exotic breeds of chickens in Pankrono–Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Two hundred (200) cloacae of slaughtered birds were collected from slaughtering units in the study area and the faecal samples were examined for the eggs/cysts of gastrointestinal parasites using the simple flotation technique and microscopy. Nematodes and cestodes were recovered in 131 (65.5%) of the samples examined with Ascaridia galli recorded as the most prevalent. Some of the nematodes include Ascaridia galli 65 (32.5%), Heterakis gallinarum 38 (19.0%), and Capillaria spp. 29 (14.5%). Some cestodes were Raillietina spp. 19(9.5%) and Choanotaenia infundibulum 5 (2.5%) with Prosthogonimus spp. 3 (1.5%) being the only trematode recovered. The local breeds recorded a percentage prevalence of 76.0%, making them the most susceptible breed to gastrointestinal parasites. The results obtained attest to the reason behind the reduction in poultry production. It is therefore recommended that farmers are educated on farm managerial practices that will reduce the risk of infection and help increase production to meet the demand of consumers.
Highlights
The total population of poultry in the world has been estimated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN [1] to be 14.718 million with 1.125M distributed throughout Africa, 1.520M in South America, 6.752M in Asia, 9 M in Oceania, 3.384M in North America, and 1.844M in Europe [2]
Based on the number of animals, poultry represent the largest domestic animal stock in the world [5]. This has been demonstrated by the number and fact that during the last three decades, egg production has doubled and poultry meat production has tripled whereas there is no much increment in livestock production due to higher demand for poultry products [6]
While the total cattle production increased by 8 percent between 2000 and 2007, poultry production increased by more than 80 percent for the same period [7], resulting from the establishment of Journal of Parasitology Research the integrated poultry project in Accra by the Government of Ghana in the 1960s and the high demand of poultry meat by the Ghanaian populace [8]
Summary
The total population of poultry in the world has been estimated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN [1] to be 14.718 million with 1.125M distributed throughout Africa, 1.520M in South America, 6.752M in Asia, 9 M in Oceania, 3.384M in North America, and 1.844M in Europe [2]. Based on the number of animals, poultry represent the largest domestic animal stock in the world [5]. This has been demonstrated by the number and fact that during the last three decades, egg production has doubled and poultry meat production has tripled whereas there is no much increment in livestock production due to higher demand for poultry products [6]. While the total cattle production increased by 8 percent between 2000 and 2007, poultry production increased by more than 80 percent for the same period [7], resulting from the establishment of Journal of Parasitology Research the integrated poultry project in Accra by the Government of Ghana in the 1960s and the high demand of poultry meat by the Ghanaian populace [8]
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