This study determined the prevalence of haemoparasites of 100 local and 400 exotic chickens reared in Owerri, the tropical rainforest capital city of Imo State, Nigeria, from December to May 2014. Two milliliters (2 mL) of blood samples were collected from the wing vein of each of the chickens and stored in sterile specimen bottles containing EDTA. From these, thick blood film was made and stained with Giemsa, while the thin blood film was prepared with Leishman stain to determine the prevalence of the blood parasites. One Hundred and Fifty (30%) of the chickens were infected with blood parasites, of which 90 (60%) were in the hens and 60 (40%) in the cocks examined. Of the 150 chickens infected with haemoparasites, 70% of this occurred in the local birds, while 20% was among the exotic breeds. Haemoparasites observed were Plasmodium sp, which infected 120 (24%) of the chickens, while Microfilaria accounted for 30 (6%) of the infection observed only in the local hens. The results obtained in this study suggested that Plasmodium sp. is the most prevalent haemoparasite of chickens reared in Owerri and Microfilaria was prevalent in the female local chickens. This therefore suggests that haemoparasitism could be an important impediment in the production of either local or exotic chickens in this area of study.
Key words: Haemoparasites, local, exotic, chickens, Owerri
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