Eimeria meleagrimitis Tyzzer in turkeys: the life cycle and effects of inoculum size and time on severity of infection and intestinal distribution.

Developmental stages of Eimeria meleagrimitis Tyzzer were found throughout the intestine and ceca of turkeys given inocula ranging from 10(4) to 7.5 x 10(5) sporulated oocysts/bird. Infection initially occurred in the duodenum and upper jejunum but later moved down the intestine and into the ceca. The speed with which the infection moved into these areas was rougly proportional to the inoculum size. Heaviest infections were in the ileum, neck of the cecum, and large intestine. The life cycle consisted of 5 asexual generations before gametogony, a 6th asexual generation developing simultaneously with gametogony. First- and 2nd-generations were located along the sides of villi in the upper intestine rather than in the crypts of Lieberkühn, as previously described in England for this species. Transitory first-generation stages that were abnormally large and usually degenerate were found in the neck of the cecum.