Small-scale farmers' perception and practice on coccidiosis management in broiler farm at Gazipur, Bangladesh.

Farmers' knowledge and farm management practices can potentially help to mitigate the prevalence and severity of chicken coccidiosis, a devastating protozoan disease. Here, we assessed the farmers' perception and on-farm practices of coccidiosis management in small-scale broiler farms at Gazipur district, Bangladesh. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the randomly selected 119 small-scale broiler producers followed by detection of coccidiosis cases through gross and microscopic examination of 58 broilers. Overall bird-level prevalence of coccidiosis was 34.48% in this study. Survey data revealed that most of the farmers maintained all-in-all-out strategy (68.91%), good quality chicks (73.11%) and floor system rearing (96.63%) in their farms, and a mixture of old and new litter was used as bedding in all the study farms. Interval between flocks in 57.99% of farms was 8 to 14 days. Prevalence of coccidiosis was recorded in all surveyed farms, even though routine anticoccidial treatment. At the age of 15 to 18 days of broiler, 68.07% of farmers used chemoprophylaxis. Usage of amprolium was the highest (74.78%) followed by toltrazuril (55.46%), sulphaquinoxaline (23.52%), sulphaclozine (28.57%), sulphadimidine (24.36%) and sulphadimethoxine (24.36%). Traditional herbal medicines like extracts of bollygum (Litsea glutinosa), sal (Shorea robusta) and arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) bark and leaves were also in-use by 4.20% farmers during coccidiosis outbreak. In conclusions, this study explored the field scenario of coccidiosis, relevant farmers' knowledge and practices, and recommends the judicious use of drugs for safe broiler production.