Journal of World's Poultry Research

117-120

Authors: Akanbi OB, Rimfa AG and Okewole PA

Avipoxvirus of the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae is known to cause fowl pox infection in chickens. The disease manifest as Cutaneous, diphtheritic, systemic and oncogenic forms in birds. The former two being the most frequent forms of the infection and occurring in chickens. Twelve cases of fowl pox virus infection in chicken flocks over a 5-year period were reviewed to describe the pathologies and the forms of pox virus infection observed in Bauchi and Plateau States in Nigeria. Three forms (cutaneous, diphtheritic and systemic) of fowl pox virus infection were investigated in indigenous and commercial backyard chicken breeds at different ages and with infection during different period of the year using gross- and histo-pathological features. Our findings showed that the cutaneous form was most common in Bauchi and Plateau States in north-eastern and north-central Nigeria respectively. Rather than the mixed Cutaneous and diphtheritic form previously reported, we observed a new co-occurrence of a mixed Cutaneous and systemic form of fowl pox virus infection in a young cockerel chicken. Also, there seems to be no seasonal variation in the occurrence of fowl pox virus infections in the chicken flocks in the study area, a notion responsible for fowl pox virus vaccine demands in the country. Therefore, present study suggest a routine fowl pox vaccination program for susceptible chicken flocks as all the flocks reported in this study had a history of unvaccinated status with the exception of the indigenous chicken which is rarely vaccinated against any infectious or contagious disease in the country.

131-138

Authors: Agboola AF, Omidiwura BRO, Ologbosere EY and Iyayi EA.

This study was carried out to determine the energy and protein requirements of laying Japanese quails. A completely randomized design of treatments comprising four dietary protein levels (18, 20, 22 and 24%) and three levels of metabolisable energy (3000. 3100, 3200 kcal/kg) in a 4 × 3 factorial arrangement was used.ÂÂÂÂÂÂ 144 Japanese quails aged 7 weeks were randomly divided into 12 dietary treatments with 3 replicates per treatment and each replicate with 4 birds. The experiment lasted for five weeks. The results of the study showed that there was no significant (P>0.05) effect of protein, energy or their interaction on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, hen day production, egg weight and egg number. However, protein as a single variable had a significant effect (P0.05) effect of protein, energy or their interaction on egg quality traits (yolk colour, yolk weight, albumen weight, shape index, shell thickness, shell weight, and haugh unit). However, birds fed 20% crude protein and 3000 kcal/kg metabolisable energy had better hen day production, number of eggs per bird and egg quality traits compared with birds on the other groups. Dietary protein increased egg production and egg weight, augmented by energy. The yolk colour was increased with increasing energy level. Therefore, the results of the experiment revealed that 20% crude protein and 3000 kcal/kg metabolisable energy could be used to obtain the best production performance and good egg quality traits of Japanese quails at the laying phase.

147-152

Authors: Akanbi OB, Ekong PS, Odita CI and Taiwo VO.

The first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus in Nigeria was in 2006 and it involved different poultry species, mostly chickens in different ages, reared and bred on the same premises with some numbers of ducks, geese, turkeys and ostriches. To determine the effect of HPAI on mixed species poultry farming in the face of the ongoing 2015-2016 resurgent HPAI in Nigeria, data of confirmed 2006-2008 HPAI H5N1 outbreak in poultry were expressed as percentage proportions and used to produce spatial map using ArcGIS10.3 (ESRI®, USA) against some ecological features of the country. The outbreaks were more clustered in poultry farm dense areas especially in the northern states while very few clustering were observed around Important Bird Area and wetlands. A total of 177,996 (25.9%) on farm bird mortality was recorded from the selected outbreaks. From the backyard flock, the total mortality was 25, 915 birds (14.6%) and from the commercial flock, total mortality was 152, 081 birds (85.4%). The commercial flocks recorded higher mortality rate (P< 0.0001). In the single species flock, total mortality recorded was 173, 425 (25.5%) while in the mixed species flock, total mortality was 4, 571 (52.9%). Mortality rate was much higher in the mixed species flock (P< 0.0001) and ranged from 4.92 – 73.15% with the chicken-duck-turkey mixed flock farms having the highest rate (73.15%). Results show a higher risk of HPAI disease occurrence in multiple, mixed species poultry than in single species poultry production.

161-190

Authors: Waseem Mirza M, Pirgozliev V, Rose SP and Sparks NHC.

An experiment was conducted to explore the time bound (different growth phases) effect of different dietary nutrient densities i.e., different energy and protein concentration while maintaining the ratio between the two, all with the same ideal amino acid profile, on litter quality and leg health (footpad dermatitis (FPD) and hock burn (HB)), when fed to growing turkeys. The effects of dietary nutrient modelling on growth performance parameters, water intake and excretion, dry matter (DMD), organic matter (OMD), crude protein (CPD) digestibility coefficients and apparent metabolisable energy (AME) were also examined, when fed to growing turkeys in varying growth phases. At twenty-eight days of age one hundred and seventy five male turkeys (BUT 8) were transferred to 35 floor pens, using stratified randomisation on body weight, 5 birds in a pen, all pens were equipped with plastic feed hoppers and drinkers. The experiment was a randomized block design consisting of 5 treatments (5 levels of CP and ME concentrations and 4 feeding/ growth phases). Each dietary treatment was replicated 7 times with 5 birds in each replicate. Feed and water were offered ad libitum throughout the experiment. Five dietary treatments, containing either 77, 85, 100, 110 or 120% of the crude protein (CP) and metabolisable energy (ME) content recommended by the breed standard. The whole experimental period of 16 weeks starting from 4 weeks of age was divided into 4 weeks standard growth phases: 4-8, 8-12, 12-16 and 16-20 weeks, finishing at 20 weeks of turkey’s age, according to commercial management guide for BUT 8 (Aviagen Turkeys Ltd.). Nutrient density had a positive and linear effect (P< 0.001) on weight gain, feed efficiency and dry matter digestibility (DMD) whereas the effect of nutrient density on dietary protein digestibility (CPD) only approached significance (P= 0.081). As might be expected increasing nutrient density had a negative and linear effect on feed (P< 0.001) and water (P< 0.01) intake and did not affect the ratio between these two parameters. Increasing nutrient density had a positive effect on litter quality (linear (P< 0.001), with both the litter moisture (P< 0.01) and the litter score decreasing (P< 0.001). Conversely litter ammonia concentration increased (P< 0.001) as nutrient density increased, similarly as nutrient density increased so did the prevalence of hock burn (P 0.05) of treatment on FPD. The results suggest that an increase in nutrient concentration can reduce the moisture content of the litter and so improve overall litter quality. However, the incidence of hock burn increased with the high nutrient density diets, suggesting that factors other than the litter moisture alone may contribute the occurrence of leg health problems in turkey production.