[Changes in the acid-base equilibrium of turkey poults infected with Eimeria adenoeides]

The effect was established of an Eimeria adenoeides infection in turkey-poults on the body temperature and the acid-alkaline balance. Used were a total of 100 turkey-poults at the age of 3 weeks, divided into two groups of 50 each. The birds of the first group were kept as controls, and those of the second group were infected at the rate of 80 000-90 000 oocysts of the Eimeria adenoeides species. During the time of the most strongly manifested clinical symptoms (on the 6th and 7th day) part of the turkey-poults of the second group that exhibited signs of agony were taken away to form a third group. It was found that the body temperature dropped during the time of the most strongly expressed clinical symptoms. An ABL-3 unit (Radiometer, Denmark) was used to record the following blood indices: pH value of blood, PCO2 in mm Hg, PO2 in mm Hg, HCO3 in mmol/l, and BE in mmol/l. It was judged by the values of these indices that up to the fifth day following infection there set in a compensated metabolic acidosis, while on the sixth and the seventh day the metabolic acidosis was already decompensated.