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Assessment Of Commonly Identified Diseases In The 2 Common Poultry Management Systems
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1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The prevention and
management of diseases outbreak and the systems of poultry management
in Sierra Leone remains the major challenge to the maximization of
profits and other benefits that could be realized from poultry.
1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Poor
management system of poultry production and ineffective diseases
prevention and control has been identified as a major constraint
militating against the survivability of poultry enterprise in Sierra
Leone in general and the rural set-up in particular. The poor management
of the enterprise greatly favoured other seasonally-dependent poultry
diseases that constitute a major threat to poultry business and its
profitability.
Thus, the objectives of the study were to:
(a) Identify the common system of poultry in Sierra Leone
(b) Identify the pattern of disease outbreak and possible causes in the systems of poultry management identified
(c) To access the consequences in the growth and production of chicken in these (free range and intensive) systems.
(d) To identify and access the methods of prevention and control of the diseases in the two systems identified.
1.4 JUSTIFICATION
The
population of rural poultry in Africa has been estimated to account for
more than 60 percent of the total national poultry population,
(Sonaiya, 1990a). for example in Nigeria, rural poultry accounted for
about eighty percent of the total national flock, (Awan, 1993). Despite
the high percentage, the survivability of rural poultry industry in
Nigeria is very low due to poor management techniques embarked upon by
rural poultry farmers, and outbreak of seasonally dependent diseases
that can account for high chick losses.
The management of village
chicken is complicated by the presence of multi-aged groups in the same
flock. High chick mortality can be attributed to poor feeding, house and
health control practices. There was usually no preferential treatment
for the chicks, as they compete for the available feed resource with
other animals. Where supplementary feeding and water are provided, the
containers used are too deep for the chicks to reach the contents.
Predation can also be a major cause of high chick mortality because; the
young chicks are more vulnerable. Predators like hawks, rats,
mongooses, snakes, dogs, cats and foxes prey on young chick especially
those in free-range management system.
This management system can
leads to failure of health control programs due to poor administration
of vaccine carriers whether food or water as the birds are unprotected.
Feeding and health improvement programmes will only be successful if
this situation is given due consideration to ensure that the different
birds are protected. The mortality rate of naturally brooded chicks,
whose only source of feed is from scavenging under free-range
conditions, is very high and often exceed 50 percent up to eight weeks
of age. (Chabeuf, 1990; Olayiwole, 1984; Achiempong, 1992).
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