Dr. Yash Bhargava, MVSc (Teaching Associate IPVS, DUVASU, Mathura)
*Dr. Shardendu Narayan Giri MVSc (Teaching Associate IPVS, DUVASU, Mathura)
Dr. Amit Singh Vishen MVSc, PhD Scholar(GBPUAT, Pantnagar )
Dr. Sudaksha Saraswat BVSc & AH (Teaching Associate IPVS, DUVASU, Mathura)
Dr. Pradeep Kumar MVSc, PhD (Assistant Professor Department of veterinary Parasitology, COVSc & AH,
DUVASU, Mathura)
*Corresponding author- Dr. Shardendu Narayan Giri
Poultry farming is now being commercialized and becomes the industry for gaining more and more profit, for this purpose the poultry bird are being hybridized to get certain important traits which are important for production point of view and a new breed of broilers and layers are formed which results in reduction in immune status which their ancestor/native/indigenous breeds was having with respect to bacterial, fungal, viral, parasitic diseases and also for other environmental stress. To avoid these things removal of environmental dust, pest and insects is very much necessary. The chemicals are used as pesticides which again compromise the immunity and ultimately leads to decrease in the production and decrease in production performance.
The dust in the livestock building is composed of organic substances which are indicated by up to 50% of the crude protein of the total mass. Virus, fungi, bacteria, yeast and sometimes protozoa can be adsorbed or settle on the dust particles. The largest proportion of the species which get adhered to these particles are streptococci and staphylococci which comprise of about 80% of germ flora some gram negative bacteria are also present in it which are the main root cause of different diseases in the poultry and fungi up to 2% are present. The potentially harmful dust comprises of organic components of the dust in livestock building includes- Feed components like grains, antibiotics, growth promoters. Animal proteins is present in the form of epithelia, serum, feathers, urine, Fecal matter- contains intestinal microflora (pathogenic, non-pathogenic, opportunistic pathogens), intestinal epithelia and digested and undigested feed components, Fungi which grows on the organic matter, Pollen of the plants which can cause allergic reactions to the birds, Grain mites, insect remains, Mineral dust, Gram negative bacteria includes Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli, klebsiella and others, Endotoxins released by the gram negative bacteria.
Air born particulates help in transmission of various poultry diseases which includes salmonella enteriditis. Some scientists recognised new castle disease to be transmitted by air and ILT (infectious laryngotrachitis virus) by both air and dust.
Many diseases caused due to dust which consists of moulds, feathers, biologically active compounds, poultry residues, which produce clinical responses including asthama, chronic bronchitis, chronic airways obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS). The dust emission rate of poultry – inhalation dust is 3165 mg/h GVE and alveolar dust is 504 mg/h GVE (GVE- 500kg live weight). Bioaerosols are the dust particles which contains the living organisms and there particle size may vary from .5-100 micron. The dust in the poultry houses can have up to 90% of organic matter 339 to 860 ng/m3 inhalable endotoxin and inhalable dust can be reach up to 10mg/m3 the bacteria and fungi can have 100-1000 CFU/liter of air.
Table-1: Bioaerosol concentration in poultry houses
| S.No. | Bioaerosol | values |
| 1 | Inhalable dust (mg/m3) | 3.6 |
| 2 | Respirable dust (mg/m3) | 0.45 |
| 3 | Total bacteria (log CFU/m3) | 5.8 |
| 4 | Total fungi (logCFU/m3) | 4.1 |
| 5 | Inhalable endotoxin (ng/m3) | 660.4 |
| 6 | Respirable endotoxin (ng/m3) | 47.5 |
The transmission of the bio aerosols from the livestock building of the dust particles is seen to be 115 meters and the bacteria reach to 200-300 meters. Many of the pathogen losses its viability after 250 seconds in the air due to varying temperature and relative humidity as follows:
Table-2: Viability of pathogens at varying temperature and relative humidity
| S.No. | pathogen | Relative humidity (%) | temperature (°c) | Loss of viability after 250 seconds in air (%) |
| 1 | Escherichia coli (O78) | 15–40 | 22 | 14 |
| 2 | Mycoplasma gallisepticum | 40–50 | 25 | up to 3 |
| 3 | Salmonella enteritidis | 75 | 24 | up to 20 |
| 4 | S. newbrunswick | 30 | 10 | 38 |
| 5 | S. newbrunswick | 70 | 21 | 11 |
| 6 | S. typhimurium | 75 | 24 | Up to 20 |
| 7 | Staphylococcus aureus | 50 | 22 | Up to 1 |
| 8 | Influenza A virus | 50 | 21 | more than 70 |
| 9 | Influenza A virus | 70 | 21 | more than 66 |
| 10 | Newcastle disease virus | 10 | 23 | No loss detectable |
| 12 | Newcastle disease virus | 35 and 90 | 23 | 20 |
If the poultry house is near the city or in the industrial area then there is increased particulate matter in the air which contains silicon, aluminium, calcium, iron, potassium in major quantity and titanium, sulphur, magnese, zinc, copper, chlorine were found in minor quantity which may cause silicate pneumonicosis in hens of older age group of about 3-4 year. Lower breeding success poor survival of young in (Tufted duck) Aythyafuligula. Heavy metals and PCBs. To reduce the dust from poultry houses of 52% artificial dust, which was generated by mature white leghorns and 91% artificially generated dust by ionization method. The negative ionizer bars which are operated at 20kv is tested in poultry house. It is about 6 times more effective than gravity settling of a particulate matter and through this method there is reduction in the bacterial agents in the flock. There is 50% decreases in Salmonella enteritidis infection in the flock, and when used for 6 days there is 97% reduction in the infection of Salmonella enteritidis. Feed is the primary source of dust in the rearing system. Soyabean oil can be added to a dry feed to reduce dust up to 99% the oil is added 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0% of the total feed. Dust can also be controlled by feed formulations, feeders, feed delivery systems. Feed coating is also done to reduce the dust in the poultry house.
The advantage of the tree propagation program around the poultry house is to filter the dust coming in the poultry house by wind and moving out of the dust, feathers, odor from the poultry house which increases the aesthetic value for the neighbors of poultry. The filters used for deodorizer and air-conditioners in environmentally controlled houses were clog these systems by the dust and feathers which will become too much problematic and require too much maintenance.
Conclusion
Nowadays due to commercialization and demand of the poultry products in the market various new hybridized poultry breeds are developed to fulfill the demand but one major constraint with this development is that these birds are very immuno- compromised and they do not adopt the environment as their previous ancestor’s indigenous birds. Dust especially particulate matter present in poultry houses and their surroundings are major problem for these hybridized breeds of birds. To prevent these dust and particulate matter poultry houses should be situated away from City or industrial area and run a tree propagation program around the poultry house. To settle down the particular matter negative ionizer bars may be used and good practices of delivery system feed formulation feed coating also helpful in controlling dust in poultry houses. From these measures we prevent the exposure of dust/particulate matter and it will results in enhancement of immune status of birds and maintain their productivity.