BACTERIOLOGY EXAMINATION OF POULTRY LITTER AND WATER IN MICHAEL OKPARA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, UMUDIKE POULTRY FARM

Very little is known about the microbial composition of animal bedding wastes, including poultry litter. We evaluated the bacterial composition of poultry litter by using standard culture method. Litter samples were randomly collected from five sections of the farm containing broiler starter (L1), broiler finisher (L2), turkey (L3), pullet (L4) and quail (L5). Water samples were also collected from different spots. Samples were cultured on MacConkey and nutrient agar using the streaking method of inoculation. Cultural, morphological and biochemical investigation revealed the isolates to be Bacillus spp. Citrobacter spp., Staphylococcus spp. Proteus spp., Streptococcus spp., Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., E. coli and Salmonella spp. The bacterial load of litter samples range from 26.75 x 104 to 29.95 x 104 with the higher load been recorded against samples from L3. The range for the viable plate count of bacteria from water samples is from 12.20 x 104 – 17.70x104 unit. Bacillus, Citrobacter, E. coli and Enterobacter were isolated from all the sites (100% occurring). Proteus was not isolated from any of the water sample but was present in samples collected from litter I (Broiler starter) and L2 (Broiler finisher). There were more bacteria isolate (67) from litter samples than water sample (50). From both litter and water, Enterobacter had the highest frequency of occurrence (18) followed by E. coli (16). Only from understanding the microbial community of animal disease wastes such as poultry litter can we manage animal disease and limit the impact of animal waste on the environment, human and animal health.