Susceptibility of different turkey lines to Histomonas meleagridis after experimental infection

In the present investigation, three turkey lines, namely wild Canadian turkeys (WCT), British United turkey (BUT-Big6) and Kelly-Bronze turkeys (KBT) were compared for their susceptibility to infection with Histomonas meleagridis. All birds were kept on wood shaving as litter from day 1 on during the entire observation period. On day 28, 18-20 birds per turkey line were infected with H. meleagridis intracloacally. All birds were observed for 4 weeks after infection. The mortality rate was 95% in WCT, 78% in BUT-Big6 and 75% in KBT. In WCT, the first deaths occurred at day 6 and ended at day 13 post-infection, whilst for BUT-Big6 and KBT, birds died from days 10 to day 20. In KBT group, the mortality started at day 10 and lasted until day 17 after infection. At necropsy, all birds that died showed lesions typical for histomoniasis in the caeca and liver. The obtained results demonstrate that all tested turkey lines are susceptible to infection; however, the mortality rate for the wild Canadian turkey is statistically significantly higher compared to the other tested two lines.