Investigation on the Prevalence of Poultry Diseases and Mortality Rate Among Farmers in Kano State, Nigeria

ABSTRACTThe study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of common diseases of poultry and mortality rate among farmers in Kano State, Nigeria. A total of one hundred questionnaires were administered using a multistage random sampling technique in the selection of farmers in the study area. Information on the socio-economic characteristics, management of the birds; diseases, common symptoms, medications used, and mortality rate were collected, coded and entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using simple descriptive statistics in SPSS version 16. The result showed majority of the respondents were males and married (51%) and educated up to the tertiary level. Sixty-four percent (64%) of the farmers practiced Intensive system of production. Majority of the farmers in the study area were small-scale producers. Chickens (77.6%) were the most predominant type of poultry raised in the study area. Newcastle disease (24.3%), coccidiosis (20.5%), chronic respiratory disease (CRD) (14.8%), infectious bursal disease (IBD) (13.3%) and fowl pox (9.5%) were the major diseases of economic importance in the study area. Newcastle disease vaccine (NCDV) (40.9%) and IBDV (37%) were the two major vaccines administered in the study area. The result also showed that Thirty-nine percent (39%) of the respondents recorded less than 10% mortality rate of their flock. In conclusion, Newcastle disease and Coccidiosis are the common diseases of poultry that causes mortality in the study area. It could be recommended that farmers should be encouraged to adopt biosecurity measures and adhere to vaccination schedule against poultry diseases.