Animal Production

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Browsing Animal Production by Subject "agro-ecology"

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    Characterization of Village Chicken Production System with Emphasis on Selected Health Problems in Eastern Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia
    (2007-06) Dagnachew, Beyene; Dr. Kelay Belihu, Dr. Fikre Lobago
    This study was carried out in three agro-ecologies in the East Shoa Zone of Oromia Regional State from October 2006 to April 2007. The study areas were Gimbichu (highland), Lume (midland) and Boset (lowland). The objectives of the study were to characterize poultry production system in the study areas and investigate the prevalence and determinants of selected poultry health problems. A questionnaire survey was carried out to collect data about poultry production system characteristics on 301 households (100 households from Gimbichu and Boset, and 101 households from Lume). A total of 328 adult chickens (105 from highland, 115 from midland and 108 from lowland) were autopsied to determine species of helminthes and counts of adult parasites. External parasites were collected from different parts of the skin to identify flea, lice and mite species. Haemagglutination-Inhibition (HAI) Test and Slide Agglutination Test were used to determine the seroprevalence of Newcastle disease and fowl typhoid, respectively. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-Square statistics. The results showed that poultry keeping was practiced mainly for egg and meat production as sources of income. The average poultry flock size for the overall study areas 7.53 and the flock was dominated by chicks in all the agro-ecologies. In most of the cases poultry had night shelters (40.6% in Lume, 55% in Boset and 75% in Gimbichu). Encouraging proportion of households in Gimbichu (69%) and Lume (49.5%) were supplementing their chicken with grains while households in Boset were dependent mainly on scavenging feed resources. Poultry attending was mainly the responsibility of women in general (81.1-91%) and wives in particular (67.3-73%). The predominant breeds of chicken reared in all the studied areas were indigenous and disease problems were serious during the main rainy season. The average chicks mortality was 2.33 (SE=0.12) while adult chicken mortality was 0.62 (SE=0.09). Significantly higher mortality was recorded in the highland (0.98±021) than midland (0.42±0.21) and lowland areas (0.45±0.13) (p<0.05). The seroprevalence of Newcastle disease and fowl typhoid was 23.17% and 22.87%, respectively. Significantly higher prevalence of Newcastle disease was observed in the lowland (30.56%) than the midland (24.35%) and highland (14.29%) areas (p<0.05). Regarding fowl typhoid, the seroprevalence was significantly higher in males (27.61%) than females (18.18%) (p<0.05). The helminth parasites identified in this study were three nematodes (Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum and Subulura brumpti) and six species of cestodes (Raillietina IX echinobotridea, Raillietinea tetragona, Rillietinea cesticullus, Choantaenia infundibulum, Daveania proglottinea and Amebotenia sphenoids). The later two cestodes were found only in the highland agro-ecology (Gimbichu). There was significant variation in the number of mixed infections in the three agro-ecologies (p<0.001). The highest proportion of mixed infection was observed in the lowland (59.26%) followed by midland (42.6%) and highland (25.71%) areas. The adult parasite count was significantly (p<0.05) in the lowland (7.57) than midland (5.88) and highland (6.53), and males (7.42) than females (5.90). Concerning ectoprasites, one species of flea (Echidnophaga gallinaceamits) and mite (Cnemidocoptes mutans), and two species of lice (Goniodes dissimilis and Menopon gallinae) were identified. It can be concluded that poultry production in the study areas is mainly traditional in management which is constrained by poor feeding, lack of proper housing and disease problems.