Assessment of Bacteria and Physicochemical Parameters in Poultry Drinking Water in Skikda Region, Algeria

Background: Water is an essential nutrient for animals; preserving its good quality is fundamental for healthy birds living in flocks. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate poultry water’s microbiological and physicochemical quality among farms in the Skikda region of Algeria. Methods: Fifteen samples were collected from 15 locations of both broiler and layer farms from March 2019 to May 2019. The samples, such as total coliforms, fecal coliforms, fecal streptococci, and Salmonella, were processed for bacterial analysis. The same samples were also monitored for the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals.Results: The diverse contaminations of the total coliforms, the fecal coliforms, and the streptococci were noticed at 53%, 13%, and 20% of samples, respectively. Our analysis showed the absence of Salmonella in all samples. The results for the totality of samples were satisfactory regarding pH, nitrate, chloride, copper dosage, cadmium, and lead. The study showed higher levels for physicochemical parameters like hardness (69.30±71.93 °f), alkalinity (53.3507±61.1743), nitrates (0.7076±1.1605), and heavy metals such as iron (0.1568±0.2035), cadmium (0.0056±0.0119) and nickel (0.0256±0.0512).Conclusion: The water quality at these poultry farms is far from satisfactory and presents diverse contaminations by the coliforms and the streptococci. Also, some physicochemical properties and heavy metal levels were abnormal.

Assessment of Bacteria and Physicochemical Parameters in Poultry Drinking Water in Skikda Region, Algeria Keywords:

bacteriology , Heavy metal , Physical Chemistry , Poultry , Water