The effectiveness of methods to diagnose eimeriosis in turkeys on industrial farms and the species identification

Abstract

The purpose of the research is a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of methods to diagnose eimeriosis in turkeys and the species identification.Materials and methods. A comparative effectiveness assessment of life-time diagnostic methods for eimeriosis in turkey poults was conducted using coproscopic examinations: with sodium chloride alone, and with sodium chloride and glycerin according to Darling; with sodium chloride and glucose according to McMaster; and with sodium chloride alone according to Fülleborn. The diagnostic strength of different methods was evaluated with Eimeria oocysts artificially placed in standard litter samples free from infection. Morphological examinations and characteristics determination of Eimeria species in the turkey poults were conducted in the laboratory after the completed sporulation.Results and discussion. The diagnostic strength of the Fülleborn’s flotation method for turkey eimeriosis was 62.4%, 79.2% for the combined Darling1 methods, 85.6% for the combined Darling2 methods, and 90.4% for the McMaster’s methods. The combined Darling’s and McMaster’s methods used by us provide, according to their technology, for double centrifugation: water settling and flotation with saline, thus the microscopically examined sample contained not so many feed residues or other particles, which affected the diagnostic strength of the method. The young turkeys from the Penza and Moscow Regions’ farms were found to have the following types of Eimeria: Eimeria meleagrimitis in 62–80%, E. meleagridis in 15–16%, E. adenoides in 5–13%, and E. gallopavonis in 9%. E. meleagrimitis and E. meleagridis dominated on the turkey farms in the said regions. E. adenoides and E. gallopavonis were significantly less common.

Keywords

• young birds
• turkeys
• oocysts
• eimeria spp.
• diagnostics
• effectiveness
• identification