Arsala Khan1, Bachal Bhutto2, Muhammad Shoaib1*, Shah Fahad2, Abrar Ahmad3, Imam Bakhsh Khetran2, Ali Raza Nizamani5, Alam Zeb1, Mujib Ur Rahman1, Sohail Khan1

1Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan; 2Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan; 3Department of Veterinary Pharmacology, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan; 4Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan.

*Correspondence | Muhammad Shoaib, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan; Email: vet.socialray@gmail.com

Abstract
In order to study the prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes in backyard (Desi) chickens in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province, the present study was intended during August to November 2012. A total of 90 samples were examined in randomly selected 18 villages of three Tehsils (Taluka) in district Tando Allahyar. The result showed that backyard chickens in district Tando Allahyar were severely infected by gastrointestinal cestodes. The Tehsil wise infection rate was found 66.6, 70 and 80%, in Tehsil Tando Allahyar, Chamber and Jhando Mari respectively. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal cestodes recorded in district Tando Allahyar was 72.2%. Furthermore, five cestodes species were observed which include Davainea proglottina (10%), Raillietina tetragona (31.1%), Raillietina cesticillus (14.45%), Choanotaenia infundibulum (7.78%) and Raillietina echinobothrida (17.78%), while 18.89% of the birds were infected by more than one species of cestodes parasite. The current study revealed that backyard chicken maintained in district Tando Allahyar of Sindh province are at high risk of gastrointestinal cestode infection. Therefore, the situation calls for minimizing the risk of cestodes by giving emphasis on control of cestodes infection through adopting standard management, proper and balance feeding, limiting the contact of poultry with the intermediate hosts of parasites and proper use of anthelminthics to reduce the losses in term of low meat and egg production.

Keywords | Backyard chicken, Anthelminthics, Prevalence, Gastrointestinal cestodes, Tando Allahyar

Editor | Asghar Ali Kamboh, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, Pakistan.

Received | November 03, 2015; Revised | November 25, 2015; Accepted | December 01, 2015; Published | January 08, 2016

Citation | Khan A, Bhutto B, Shoaib M, Fahad S, Ahmad A, Khetran IB, Nizamani AR, Zeb A, Rahman M, Khan S (2016). Prevalence of gastro intestinal cestodes in backyard chickens in district Tando Allahyar, Sindh. J. Anim. Health Prod. 4(1): 26-30.

ISSN | 2308–2801

Copyright © 2016 Khan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.