Health management of poultry flocks

Poultry is main source of animal protein in the form of eggs and meat to the general masses in Pakistan. Bad health in poultry flocks results in increased mortality, morbidity, economic losses and decreased production. Poultry birds are commonly encountered with bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases and other nutritional deficiencies. Among the viral diseases, Newcastle disease (ND), Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD), Hydro-pericardium Syndrome (HPS), Avian Influenza (AI) and Infectious Bronchitis (IB) are cause of high mortality and morbidity in poultry flocks. The common bacterial diseases of poultry flocks include Fowl cholera, Salmonellosis, Fowl typhoid and Infectious coryza. The fungal diseases of poultry like Aspergillosis are due to eating of contaminated feed. The internal parasites of poultry include round worms and tape worms. The external parasites include lice, ticks and fleas. The nutritional deficiencies of poultry flocks cause retarded growth along with decrease egg production in poultry birds. The lack of modern farm management practices are major reasons for bad health of poultry in developing countries. For maximum production from poultry birds the birds should be raised under hygienic conditions. Through adopting efficient health management practices the diseases can be prevented in poultry flocks and the mortality and morbidity can be decreased in poultry birds and maximum production of eggs and poultry meat can be obtained from poultry flocks.

Keywords: Poultry, diseases, management, prevention, control.