Treatment of Turkey Hatching Eggs for Control of Arizona Infection

Abstract

A pressure-differential (PD) procedure was developed and used successfully to infect hatching turkey eggs with Arizona organisms. Forty-eight hours after experimental infection the eggs were dipped in antibiotic solutions by a temperature-differential (TD) procedure. Eggs were incubated for one week, and attempts were then made to recover the organisms from three areas (shell, membranes, and interior) of each egg. The results from five experiments indicated that levels of 2000, 1000, 500, and 250 ppm of gentamicin sulfate, but not 125 or 62.5, eliminated the infection from naturally and experimentally infected eggs. In four experiments, spectinomycin sulfate at levels of 2000, 1000, 500, and 250 ppm, or a combination of spectinomycin and lincomycin hydrochloride, did not eliminate the infection from experimentally infected eggs but did reduce early embryo mortality. Two disinfectants used, Iosan and Environ, did not eliminate the organisms from the outer surface of shells of experimentally infected eggs. The highest number of arizona recoveries were made from the membrane area of the eggs. Controlled sequential application of the PD and TD procedures on eggs had no harmful effect on the developing embryo or the hatching poult.