Prevalence and seasonal variation of ectoparasite load in free-range chicken of Kashmir valley

Abstract

A faunistical study of ectoparasites was carried out for a period of two years from January 2005 to December 2006 in rural free-range chicken purchased from different areas of Kashmir valley. Screening of a total of 478 birds revealed only lice infestation with an overall prevalence of about 100% and 97.69% birds harboring multiple species. The prevalence for various species of lice, during winter, spring, summer, autumn and overall prevalence respectively, was 90.32%, 99.14%, 100%, 98.34% and 96.86% for Lipeurus caponis; 33.87%, 48.71%, 57.75%, 39.66% and 44.76% for Goniodes gigas; 29.83%, 32.47%, 45.68%, 32.23% and 34.93% for Menopon gallinae; 28.22%, 32.47%, 39.65%, 32.23% and 33.05% for Menacanthus cornutus; 16.12%, 19.65%, 25%, 18.18% and 19.66% for Goniocotes gallinae and 6.45%, 12.82%, 13.79%, 4.95% and 9.41% for Eomenacanthus stramineus. The seasonal influence on nature and intensity of infestation was evident.

Prevalence and seasonal variation of ectoparasite in pigeon, <I>Columba livia</I> (Gmelin, 1789) of Dhaka, Bangladesh

“…Adang et al (2008) also reported C. columbae and P. canariensis were the most prevalent ectoparasite of domestic pigeon in summer. Salam et al (2009) observed L. caponis was the most prevalent among ectoparasites in free-range chicken of Kashmir valley. The prevalence and intensity of infestation were positively correlated to temperature, both being followed by autumn and least in winter (Nadeem et al 2007).…”

Prevalence of Menopon gallinae Linn. (Insecta, Phthiraptera, Menoponidae, Amblycera) upon poultry birds (Gallus gallus domesticus) of selected locality of district Chamoli Garhwal (Uttarakhand), India

“…and found 51.3% prevalence rate. Moreover, prevalence of this louse was remained 35.9% in Bulgaria (Prelezov et al, 2006); 34.4% in Kashmir Valley (Salam et al, 2009) and 33.3% in Malawi (Banda, 2011), Respectively. Prevalence of M. gallinae in present study remained more or less similar (45.1%).…”

“…Thus, these phthirapterans affect bird health directly by causing irritation, discomfort, tissue damage, blood loss, allergy, dermatitis which in turn reduce the quantity and quality of meat and egg production. Prevalence and intensity of infestation of phthirapteran ectoparasite in different avian host has been noted from time to time (Clayton and Drown, 2001;Darolova et al, 2001;Johnson et al, 2005;Prelezov et al, 2006;Prelezov and Koinarski, 2006;Beg et al, 2008;Khan et al, 2008;Mungube et al, 2008;Orunc and Bicek, 2009;Salam et al, 2009;Singh et al, 2009a,b;Naz et al, 2010;Ahmad et al, 2011Ahmad et al, , 2012Arya et al, 2011Arya et al, , 2012Banda, 2011;Begum and Sehrin, 2011;Sychra et al, 2008Sychra et al, , 2011Enout et al, 2012 andMukaratirwa andKhumalo, 2012). Agarwal and Saxena (1979) noted the incidence of one poultry lice species, Lipeurus lawrensis tropicalis from Varanasi.…”

Inbreeding, immune defence and ectoparasite load in different mockingbird populations and species in the Galápagos Islands

“…The Galápagos Islands are exposed to strong environmental variation and pathogen pressure is known to fluctuate in such changing environments (Moyer et al 2002, Salam et al 2009). Therefore, mockingbirds might have adapted their innate immune systems to this wide range of conditions and purged some of their genetic load associated with immune traits (Crnokrak and Barrett 2002) resulting in the true absence of a relationship between inbreeding and immunocompetence (Visscher et al 2001, Wiehn et al 2002).…”