Persistence of salmonella enteritidis in poultry units and poultry food

1. Studies on the survival of Salmonella enteritidis in poultry units and food were carried out over a two‐year period.

2. The organism persisted for at least one year in an empty trial house at the laboratory in which naturally‐infected broiler breeder birds had previously been housed. A similar survival period was seen in a building which had housed an infected layer breeder flock, although infection was not detected in a subsequent pullet flock.

3. Salmonella enteritidis was also frequently found surviving outside poultry houses in small pockets of litter and fan dust which had been left after cleansing and disinfection of the site. On some poultry units S. enteritidis was also found in wild bird droppings.

4. Salmonella contamination appeared to persist preferentially in association with dust particles swept from the floor and in food troughs and S. enteritidis survived at least 26 months in artificially contaminated poultry food.     

Performance of broiler chicks fed on alkali‐treated neem (Azadirachta indica) kernel cake as a protein supplement

1. An experiment was conducted to evaluate growth and nutrient efficiency of broiler chicks from 3 to 42 d fed on diets containing alkali‐treated neem (Azadirachta indica A. juss) kernel cake (NKC) as a protein supplement in place of peanut meal (PNM).

2. NKC was treated with sodium hydroxide at 10 (ANKC 1) or 20 g (ANKC 2)/kg and incorporated into the test diets at 135 or 300 g/kg to replace 50 (low—L) or 100 (High—H) % of the PNM protein of the reference diet.

3. Despite comparable retentions of dry matter and total carbohydrate on L‐ANKC 1 and 2, fibre on L‐and H‐ANKC 2 and nitrogen, calcium and acid detergent fibre on all experimental diets compared to the retentions of chicks on the reference diet, only the chicks fed L‐ANKG 2 were found to grow and utilise food as well as those on the reference diet.

4. The activities of serum alkaline phosphatase on H‐ANKC 1 and alanine amino transferase on all test diets were depressed (P < 0.05), but the activity of serum aspartate amino transferase, total erythrocyte count and concentration of blood haemoglobin and urea were similar in all chicks.

5. No significant differences were noticed in the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the meat of chicks fed on the reference diet and on diets incorporating ANKC at the lower concentrations. Feeding ANKC protein did not impart any untoward taste as evaluated in pressure cooked meat by a semitrained panel on a 7 point Hedonic scale.

6. Except for duodenal and jejunal inflammation in chicks on both reference and test diets, all the vital organs were normal, ruling out any adverse affects caused by residual neem bitters.

7. Comparable performance and cost of chicks fed on the reference and L‐ANKC 2 diets, warrants the utilisation of hitherto wasted protein‐rich NKC after alkali treatment in broiler chick diets to spare peanut meal for human consumption in developing countries.     

Prevalence and duration of insensibility following electrical stunning in calves

Sixty-one calves were electrically stunned with 100-250 V currents (103-1806 mA) and the prevalence and duration of insensibility was assessed from their physical behaviour, the presence of epileptiform activity in their electrocorticograms, and the absence of visual evoked responses in their electrocorticograms. A current applied at 100 V across the head for 3 s failed to induce insensibility in all cases. Currents at 150-250 V induced insensibility in all calves and the shortest duration of insensibility was 44 s. It is recommended that a 150-200 V current would be appropriate for commercial use.