Dissertation
The study was conducted to determine prevalence, biochemical profiles and antimicrobial
susceptibility profiles of non typhoidal salmonella (NTS) in indigenous free range and
broiler chickens in Morogoro Municipality. Between November 2019 and May 2020, a
total of 384 cloaca swab samples from Magadu, Mzinga and Bigwa wards were collected.
Identification was done by standard bacteriological methods, serotyping and genetically
confirmed by PCR using Salmonella specific primers pair and Salmonella enterica primer
pair (invA and iroB gene primers). Antimicrobial sensitivity tests were done using
Ampicillin,
Cefaclor,
Imipenem,
Gentamycin,
Ciprofloxacin,
Sulfamethaxazole-
Trimethoprim and Tetracycline antimicrobial discs. Out of 384 samples, 11 (2.9%)
samples confirmed to be Salmonella of which 8(4%) were from broilers and 3(1.6%) were
from free range chickens. Of the 11 isolates 8 were from group B and 3 isolates were from
group D. Bigwa ward showed high prevalence (5.2%) of Salmonella than the other wards,
broilers being the more prevalent in Salmonella than free range chickens. Antimicrobial
susceptibility results showed variable level of sensitivity to majority of antimicrobial
tested, however, variable level of resistance were also found with 7 isolates resistant to
Ampicillin, 4 isolates resistant to Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim and 3 isolates resistant
to Tetracycline. Screening for resistant genes detected three isolates with Sulfamethaxole
(sulII) resistant gene and none for Tetracycline and Ampicillin. This study revealed the
presence of Salmonella carriers among chicken kept in Morogoro Municipal with
antimicrobial resistances from both free range and broilers chickens. The results underline
the importance of the biosecurity measures in the production and processing of chicken
for human consumption, Similarly improvement of management is recommended to stop
transmission of Salmonella from natural carriers to chickens as indicated by faecal
carriers found. Contamination or spread from rats that are natural carriers to poultry needs
to be further investigated.