The role of certain fish meals in the production of localised gizzard erosion is confirmed. Lesions typical of gizzard erosion could be produced by the addition of histamine to the diet. The amount of histamine occurring naturally in fish meal depends on the species of fish and the extent and nature of bacterial spoilage. These variables may explain why histamine has not been implicated previously and also why there have not been consistent associations between the condition and geographical source or common factors in bulk consignments of the meal.
Pasteurella anatipestifer isolates from commercially raised, clinically diseased White Pekin ducks were serotyped by agglutination and agar-gel precipitin methods. Plate agglutination was found to be the most suitable test for preliminary classification. Based on National Animal Disease Center (Ames, Iowa) nomenclature, six serotypes were classified as types 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8. These were compared with strains held by Houghton Poultry Research Station (Houghton, Huntingdon, England), at present constituting 15 serotypes (A to O), isolated in England and other countries. Serotype 1 was found to be identical to serotype A, the strain most commonly associated with outbreaks of the disease in England. Serotype 3 was found to be identical to serotype L, which was isolated from an outbreak of the disease in swans in Tasmania. Types 5, 7, and 8 did not react with any of the typing sera available, but serotype 7 was found to be identical to a strain (type N) isolated subsequently in England. More than 95% of field isolations made from 1975 to 1979 belonged to serotypes 1, 2, and 5.
The results of a large scale trial confirmed preliminary findings that the feeding to chicks of a diet containing 4 mg/g of histamine can result in the production of localised lesions in the gizzard and depressed growth rate. This finding supports an earlier suggestion that when dietary fish meal is associated with gizzard erosion the condition is mediated, in part, by the histamine produced by certain types of bacterial spoilage of fish protein.
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