Developing an experimental necrotic enteritis model in turkeys - the impact of Clostridium perfringens, Eimeria meleagrimitis and host age on frequency of severe intestinal lesions

Table 4 Frequency of turkeys with severe intestinal lesions and OPG counts

Experiment (turkey age)	EM dose¹	Hours after EM²	No. of scored birds (samples of intestinal contents)	Percent score3³	Median log₁₀ OPG⁴
1	5–20	127–129	22 (6)	40.9^c	6.3^a
(3-wk-old)		145	22 (−)	< 4.5^d	–
		169	22 (6)	4.5^d	5.3^b
2	0.25	123	24 (5)	< 4.2^a	5.0^a
(3-wk-old)		145	24 (5)	< 4.2^a	5.6^a
3	1.6	121	20 (4)	< 5.0^c	0^c
(3-wk-old)		145	20 (4)	5.0^c	6.4^d
		168	13 (3)	46.2^d	6.2^cd
4	5–15	123	25 (6)	100.0^c	6.5^a
(3-wk-old)		147	24 (6)	< 4.2^d	5.2^b
		171	27 (6)	7.4^d	4.7^b
5	5	119	23 (4)	< 4.3^a	4.8^a
(3-wk-old)		141	18 (4)	< 5.6^a	6.0^b
6	10–20	119	17 (2)	< 5.9^c	3.7^c
(3-wk-old)		142	13 (2)	< 7.7^c	6.0^c
		168	5 (2)	< 20.0^c	6.0^c
7	15	121	14 (3)	7.1^c	6.2^c
(3-wk-old)		144	14 (3)	< 7.1^c	5.8^c
		168	14 (3)	< 7.1^c	5.9^c
8	10	124–132	64 (16)	< 1.6^a	5.8^a
(3-wk-old)		142–149	57 (16)	< 1.8^a	5.9^a
9	10–20	125	8 (4)	12.5^a	4.6^a
(3-wk-old)		145	15 (4)	6.7^a	6.2^b
(5-wk-old)		125	8 (4)	75.0^a	4.6^a
		145	17 (4)	76.0^a	6.1^b

¹Numbers of Eimeria meleagrimitis oocysts (in thousands) inoculated per bird, ² Number of hours elapsed between Eimeria meleagrimitis inoculation and examination of turkeys, ³Eimeria meleagrimitis- and Clostridium perfringens-inoculated birds, ⁴Eimeria meleagrimitis-inoculated birds
^a-bKruskal-Wallis rank test. Different letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) difference, ^c-d Dunn’s test. Different letters indicate significant (p < 0.05) difference

ISSN: 1746-6148