Gastrointestinal parasitic infection in diverse species of domestic birds of Manipur, India.

Domesticated birds (515) consisting of 185 broiler ( Gallus gallus domesticus ), 130 layers ( Gallus Sp), 75 free range local chicken ( Gallus domesticus ), 40 house pigeon ( Columba livia ), 70 ducks ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and 15 turkeys ( Melleagris gallopavo ) reared in valley districts of Manipur were investigated for intestinal protozoan and helminthic infections. Fresh faecal samples of these birds were examined microscopically by direct wet smear with 2.5 % potassium dichromate (K2 Cr2 O7 ). Of these 412 (80 %) were found to be infected with different species of gastrointestinal parasites. The highest (90.8 %) prevalence of these parasitic infections was found in broiler followed by layer (78.5 %), duck (75.7 %), house pigeon (75 %), Turkey (66.7 %) and free range local chicken (65.3 %), etc. A total of 10 species of intestinal parasites were encountered. Among these, the protozoans Eimeria and Isospora were the most common (68.3 %) followed by mixed infection of protozoan and Helminths.