Four hundred seventy eight (478) guts of local backyard chickens slaughtered in markets of ten different villages of Kashmir valley were collected and examined for Ascaridia galli infection. Formol-ether concentration technique was used to concentrate the gut content and analysis carried out. Prevalence of the nematode, age wise, season wise and sex wise infection rate was recorded. The infected tissues were subjected to histological studies by conventional Microtomy and finally the efficacy of extract of local herb Mentha longifolia to limit the nematode infection in chicken was also studied.
The overall prevalence of Ascaridia galli was found to be 35.35% with highest number of infected birds in September. Parasitic load was found to be highest during summer with mean intensity 05 1.9. Females harbored more parasites than males. The histological studies of the infected tissue revealed degeneration of lining epithelium and even sloughing of mucosa. Mucous degeneration with vacuolation of lining epithelial cells was a consistent feature. Cellular reaction was mild and was characterized mainly by mononuclear cells and a few polymorphonuclear cells including eosinophils. Comparative efficacy study showed that treatment with Mentha leaves extract and piperazine caused significantly decreased egg per gram (EPG) in chickens. Mentha leaves extract started to decrease EPG from day 7 post-treatment and most effective at 21st day of post-treatment. On the other hand, piperazine (Piper-vet®) showed 100% efficacy on 7th day post-treatment.
