Isolation of salmonella and some other potential pathogens from two chicken breeding farms in Saudi Arabia.

Different salmonella serotypes were recovered from various sources in meat (A) and layer (B) poultry-breeder farms of Saudi Arabia. On farm A, salmonella were recovered from intestines of poultry breeders (7.41%), inshelled chicken embryos (2.87%), day-old chicks (19.23%), and mice (21.43%). Salmonellae in shell contents and on shell surfaces of hatching eggs contaminated the same percentage of eggs (1.24%), and litter and feed contaminations were 4.0% and 1.67%, respectively. On farm B, salmonella were recovered from intestines of poultry breeders (27.59%), mice intestines (15.0%), shells of hatching eggs (2.48%), hatching egg contents (0.35%), litter (33.33%), and feed (5.0%). No salmonella were recovered from intestines of inshelled chick embryos or day-old chicks on farm B. The total number of salmonella serotypes isolated from both farms was 14, and the serotypes common to both farms were Salmonella concord and S. livingstone. Salmonella contamination of shells of hatching eggs, pooled from both farms, was higher for dirty floor eggs than for clean eggs collected from floors and nests. The percentages of hatching eggs penetrated by bacteria other than salmonella on farms A and B, respectively, were: dirty floor eggs (25.53%, 22.83%), clean floor eggs (2.67%, 2.06%) and clean nest eggs (0.00%, 1.08%). The bacterial flora isolated from egg contents of unincubated hatching eggs (in decreasing order of frequency) were Staphylococcus, coliforms, Streptococcus, Bacillus, Salmonella, and Proteus.