Isolation and Identification of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale from Poultry in and around Jabalpur

Among various prevalent poultry diseases, respiratory diseases are most common. Mostly bacterial pathogen involved in respiratory infections are Escherichia coli, Pasteurella spp., Haemophilus spp. and Mycoplasma spp. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) is the new and difficult respiratory tract bacteria to isolate and grow in the laboratory. It has also been associated with retarded growth, reduction in egg production and can lead to economic losses to the poultry industry. A total of 166 serum samples, 176 nasal swabs and tracheal swab each and 167 lung pieces from poultry were collected in transport media with gentamicin (to avoid contamination of other Gram-negative bacteria) from nine different poultry farms/outlets in and around Jabalpur. Isolation was performed in different media, namely nutrient agar, MacConkey agar, Eosin methylene blue agar and 10% blood agar with and without carbon dioxide, and biochemical tests, namely indole, methyl red, Voges-Prosakauer VP, citrate, urease, oxidase, catalase and triple sugar iron agar (TSI), were performed. The percentage of gentamicin-resistant respiratory tract bacteria from nasal swabs for E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. and Proteus spp. was 14.20%, 7.95%, 14.77%, 6.25% and 1.70%, respectively. From tracheal swab, the percentages of bacteria isolated were 14.20 (E. coli), 7.38 (Klebsiella spp.), 10.22 (Staphylococcus spp.), 5.11 (Streptococcus spp.), 2 (Proteus spp.) and 0.56 (O. rhinotracheale), whereas from lung pieces, the percentages of bacteria which were isolated were 16.16 (E. coli), 9.58 (Klebsiella spp.), 12.57 (Staphylococcus spp.), 4.79 (Streptococcus spp.), 3.59 (Proteus spp.) and 0.59 (Ornithobacterium spp.). From poultry, 8.43% of serum samples were screened positive for O. rhinotracheale antibodies with ELISA kit.