Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Isolates from Poultry Litter

Bacteriological study was conducted on poultry litter samples collected from different broiler and layer farms surrounding the areas of Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir. A total of 66 samples, 33 of rice husk, 21 of wooden bran and 12 of sand samples were randomly collected for study of the 66 samples, 36 (54.54%) were found positive for bacterial contaminations, where as 30 (45.46%) revealed no bacterial contamination. The bacterial species identified were; Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella arizonae and Staphylococcus aureus. Of the 33 samples of rice husk 30 (30.30%) were detected as contaminated with bacterial species, where as 10 (15.15%) and 6 (9.09%) of wooden bran and sand samples, respectively revealed bacterial growth. The bacterial contamination dominated in rice husk of 20 (30.30%) followed by wooden bran and sand samples, 10 (15.15%) and 6(9.09%) respectively. A relatively higher percentage; 50.0, 100, 66.67, 42.85, and 60.00% of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Salmonella arizonae and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively were determined in rice husk samples, where as lower percentage, 27.78 and 14.28% of E. coli and Salmonella arizonae, respectively were obtained in sand samples. Eight different antibiotics were used to record the susceptibility of each isolate. Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes were recognized highly sensitive to chloramphenical and gentamycin, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were observed highly sensitive to sulphamethoxazole and tetracycline while Salmonella arizonae showed moderate susceptibility to ampicillin and neomycin drugs. Over all drug sensitivity revealed resistance or moderate susceptibility of the isolates to multiple antibiotics.

Keywords: Litter, Susceptibility, Antibiotics, Bacterial isolates.