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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #216974
Title: Salmonella recovery from broilers and litter following gavage with Salmonella colonized darkling beetles and larvae.

Author
item Buhr, Richard - Jeff
item Richardson, Larry
item ROCHE, A - UGA
item Bourassa, Dianna
item Cox Jr, Nelson
item FAIRCHILD, B - UGA
item Cason Jr, John
item HINKLE, N - UGA

Submitted to: World Poultry Congress Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2007
Publication Date: 6/29/2008
Citation: Buhr, R.J., Richardson, L.J., Roche, A.J., Bourassa, D.V., Cox Jr, N.A., Fairchild, B.D., Cason Jr, J.A., Hinkle, N.C. 2008. Salmonella recovery from broilers and litter following gavage with Salmonella colonized darkling beetles and larvae. World Poultry Congress Proceedings.64:(Suppl. 2)P.168.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Transmission of Salmonella to broiler chicks with Salmonella colonized darkling beetles or larvae was evaluated by sampling litter and ceca during growout. In two trials, 1 or 2 day-of-hatch broiler chicks (in a pen of 40) were gavaged with either 4 darkling beetles, 4 beetle larvae, or 0.1 mL peptone broth resulting in a challenge dose of a marker strain of S. typhimurium at log 10^4 cfu. Litter was sampled weekly using 2 intermittently stepped on drag swabs (ISODS)/pen and ceca were sampled at 3 and 6 weeks. In the first trial, at 1 and 3 weeks, 11/12 pens had Salmonella-positive litter and at week 3 the ceca from pen-mates (n=5) ranged in incidence from 0 to 60% Salmonella-positive. By week 6, 9/12 pens had Salmonella-positive litter and ceca from pen-mates (n=33-40) ranged in incidence from 5 to 16% Salmonella-positive. In the second trial all pens had Salmonella-positive litter for weeks 1-3, and at week 3 ceca from pen-mates (n=10) ranged in incidence from 0 to 100% Salmonella-positive. Colonization by Salmonella in broilers was achieved by the three challenge routes and ISODS recovered Salmonella from litter in all pens that concurrently included 1 or more Salmonella-positive ceca.