Feed protein stability and bacterial disease in commercial broilers – an observational study in Multan, Pakistan

Introduction: In Pakistan, bacterial infections such as E. coli and Salmonella kill broilers and cost farmers money. Antibiotics are used to manage these diseases by most farmers, yet there is growing concern about antibiotic resistance. Few studies from real commercial farms in Pakistan examine whether feed quality influences disease. This research examined whether there is a correlation between feed quality and bacterial disease in a single commercial broiler flock.

Methods: I did this work during a 12-week internship from June to August 2023 at the Poultry Research Institute in Multan. We followed one flock of 5,000 broilers. We took swabs from 5–7 sick birds twice per week. We cultured bacteria on blood agar and MacConkey agar. We identified E. coli and Salmonella by Gram staining and simple biochemical tests. We collected feed samples from three points along the feed line once per week and tested for protein, moisture, and fiber. Pearson correlation and linear regression were run using SPSS. Significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: Out of 78 samples that grew bacteria, 43% were E. coli and 15% Salmonella. We found a weak negative correlation between feed protein stability and bacterial disease (r = -0.15, p = 0.04). The R² value was 0.09, meaning protein stability explained only 9% of the variation in disease cases.

Conclusions: Feed protein stability has a small but real correlation with bacterial disease in broilers. Farmers could test feed every two weeks as an early warning. However, this should not replace antibiotics. Limitations include one farm, observational design, and 91% unexplained variation. More studies on more farms are needed.

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.