Division of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama, Srinagar – 190 006, Jammu and Kashmir, India
*E-mail: masoodmir1@gmail.com
Online published on 9 April, 2014.
The present study was aimed to investigate the specific diseases associated with respiratory tract ailments in broiler chickens. A total of 186 broiler flocks, with a total of 488942 birds, in and around Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir) were screened for mortality pattern with special reference to clinical and postmortem examination of respiratory tract involvement, etiological characterization of disease and histopathological lesions in respiratory tract. Etiological characterization of diseases associated with respiratory tract affections revealed colibacillosis in 26 flocks, Newcastle disease in 2 flocks, aspergillosis in 8 flocks and metabolic diseases including gout in 4 flocks and ascites in 12 flocks, with respective mortalities of 6.4, 13.7, 7.0, 8.7 and 9.3%. Histopathology revealed varying degree of changes in the respiratory tract.
Broiler chickens, occurrence, pathology, respiratory tract
