Occurrence of helminths and coccidia in apparently healthy free range local chickens slaughtered at Morogoro live bird market

Endoparasites are among important causes of mortality and reduced productivity in village chickens. This study was carried out to determine the presence of intestinal helminths and coccidia in apparently healthy free range local chickens slaughtered at Morogoro live bird market so as to establish the magnitude of the problem. A total of 252 intestines of slaughtered chickens were examined during the survey. Helminths were recovered and identified using standard methods. Smears of intestinal scrapings were examined under light microscope to detect coccidia oocysts. Two hundred and twenty chickens (87.3%) were infested with helminth species, whereas 28 birds (11.1%) were infected with coccidia. Twenty five birds (9.9%) had conjoint infestations with helminth and coccidia. In the present survey nine, different helminth species were recovered, namely; Ascaridia galli (10.5%); Heterakis gallinarum (5.3%); H. isolonche (3.9%); Capillaria spp. (2.6%); Raillietina echinobothrida (38.2%); R. tetragona (34.2%); R. cesticillus (2.6%); Choanotaenia infundibulum (1.3%) and Hymenolepsis cantaniana (1.3%). The predilection site for the cestodes was the small intestines except for H. cantaniana which was also recovered from the large intestines. With the nematodes, Capillaria spp . and H. isolonche were recovered from the caeca, H. gallinarum from small and large intestines and A. galli from all intestinal parts. Our findings indicate that helminth and coccidia are common and pose health problems in free range local chickens. Integrated sustainable control strategies need to be put in place to improve chicken productivity and enhance smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in the rural areas where most of the village chickens are produced. Keywords : Helminth, coccidia, village chicken, live bird market