Isolation of Bacteria from Dead-in-Shell Chick Embryos of Psittacines

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to explore the bacteria associated with the dead-in-shell eggs of psittacines. A total of 132 dead-in-shell eggs of different psittacine breeds (Macaws, Lories, Conures, Amazons, Eclectus, Cockatoos, Grey parrots and Jardine parrots)
were obtained from the incubation unit of Cavin estate exotic bird farm, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and subjected to microbological analysis. The overall prevalence of bacteria isolated from the dead-in-shell was 80.30% (106/132). Among these, Gram-negative bacteria were predominant (49.24%, 65/132) was observed followed by Gram-positive organisms (28.78%, 38/132) and Gram-positive filamentous organisms (2.27%, 3/132) were also isolated from dead in shell embryos. Among the Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus sp. (21.12%) was found to be more followed by Bacillus sp. (3.78%), Corynebacterium sp. (2.2%) and Enterococcus sp. (1.51%).
Similarly, among the Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia sp. (25%) was identified more followed by Pseudomonas sp. (6.60%), Serratia sp. (6.60%), Acinetobacter sp. (4.5%), Enterobacter sp. (3.78%), Yersinia sp. (3.77%), Citrobacter sp. (2.27%), Buttiauxella sp. (1.52%), Klebsiella sp. (1.51%), Cedeacae sp. (1.51%) and Erwinia sp. (0.75%). Among the psittacine species, more numbers of the dead in shell cases were found to be in conures (37%) and lories (14.5%). Commonly found bacterial isolates were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity
test. All the isolates were found to be sensitive to enrofloxacin and cefotaxime whereas, most of the bacteria showed resistance to trimethoprim + sulphamethoxazole and kanamycin. Resistance to other antibiotics were variable. Multiple resistance was not observed for any of the isolate.