Distribution of paratyphoids on Saudi Arabian poultry farms and pathogenicity studies of predominant serotypes.

A total of 412 feed samples and 632 litter samples from 15 poultry farms (2 breeding farms and 13 rearing farms) were examined for salmonella. Twelve of these farms had salmonella in litter, five farms had salmonella in the feed and four had salmonella in both feed and litter. Seventeen feed samples (4.13%) and 121 litter samples (19.15%) were contaminated with salmonella. Sixteen salmonella serotypes were encountered, of which six were found in both feed and litter. Salmonella concord and S. livingstone were present in the litter of one breeding farm and its progeny farms. The five most frequently isolated salmonella serotypes in feed and litter were S. concord (17.39%), S. coeln (15.94%), S. livingstone (15.22%), S. manhattan (11.59%), and S. paratyphi B var. java (8.69%). The pathogenicities of those serotypes were determined by calculating their median lethal doses (LD50) 24 and 48 hr postinjection of 1,050 one-day-old broiler chicks via the navel into the yolk sac. The composite 48-hr LD50s (viable cells) were: S. concord, less than 8.8 X 10(3); S. livingstone, 1.1 X 10(5); S. manhattan, 3.5 X 10(5); S. coeln, 1.25 X 10(7); and S. paratyphi B var. java, 1.73 X 10(7).