Keywords
Abstract
The present study was conducted to evaluate quantitatively the internal and external biosecurity practices in layer farms in Nyala, South Darfur State, Sudan. Twenty-five commercial layer farms were investigated. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. The respondents included farm owners, farm management and veterinarians. The overall biosecurity of the poultry farms was set up in two major categories, an internal and an external one. The two categories comprised a total of thirteen subcategories, each of which was given a score that ranged from 0.00 to 1.00. The overall score of the biosecurity in layer farms was 0.50. The score of the external biosecurity was 0.53 whereas that of the internal biosecurity was 0.64. The difference between the external and the internal biosecurity score was insignificant (P>0.05). No significant correlation (P>0.05) was observed between the scores of the external and the internal biosecurity. The highest score in the external biosecurity was observed in export of live animals, whereas the highest score in the internal biosecurity was found in disease management. Acceptable levels of biosecurity were found in measures related to the purchase of one day old chicks, as only 4% of the farms had poor practices.Strong positive correlation (0.48) was found between both removal of manure and dead animals,and infrastructure and biological vectors. The removal of manure and dead animals has also shown positive correlation (0.42) in relation to the entrance of visitors. In conclusion, the present study revealed poor biosecurity practices in layer farms in Nyala. More attention is recommended to rAaise the awareness of supervisors as well as farm owners on the importance of applying good farm biosecurity measures.