Prevalence ofsp. in Broiler Poultry Houses with Positive and Negative Pressure Ventilation Systems in Southern Brazil.

Abstract

Coccidiosis is an enteric disease caused by protozoa of thegenus and is of great economic relevance in industrial aviculture. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence ofsp. in broiler poultry houses with positive (System 1) and negative (System 2) pressure ventilation and assess the associated factors. A transversal study was conducted using 8 random broiler chickens from 64 houses (= 512) and macroscopic and histologic evaluation of the intestines, as well as PCR forsp. The prevalence ofsp. was 90.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 97.8-83.5), with 93.8% (95% CI: 100-85.4) in System 1 and 87.5% (95% CI: 99.0-76.0) in System 2. The most prevalent species was, and the most common combination was,, and. System 2 and the negativesubgroup showed the best results for feed conversion and daily weight gain. By evaluating litter treatment, we found that quicklime reduced the risk of presence ofand. In conclusion,sp. had a high prevalence in both systems, with a predominance of mixed infections. System 2 and negative flocks showed the best zootechnical results.