Abstract:
This study determined the prevalence of Newcastle disease among live chicken in Namayemba town council, Bugiri district. The objectives of this study were; to determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease in chicken of different production systems and to assess the prevalence of Newcastle disease in different types of chicken in Namayemba town council, Bugiri district. Across-sectional study design was used to examine the relationship between NCD and other variables of interest. Blood samples were collected from birds (from the wing vein of the humeral region) in the different wards of Namayemba town council, Bugiri district. The serum samples were detected for Newcastle disease virus antibodies using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Prevalence of Newcastle in different parishesindicated that Bukonde had the highest (91.7%) level of prevalence, followed by Gulimwoyo (76.9%), Kasule (69.2%), Namabugo (66.7%), Isagaza (55.6%) whereasKafufu registered the least level of prevalence (50%). The (P=0.9043) showed that there was no significant differences in the prevalence of Newcastle disease in all parishes investigated.The highest prevalence of Newcastle in different chicken typeswas identified with layers (76.9%) followed by kuroilers (73.3%), broilers (66.7%) and least prevalence was identified with local birds (35.7%). The (P=0.1581), that is to say p>0.05 indicated no significant difference among the chicken types with chi-square value of (5.195). The highest prevalence of Newcastle in different production systemswas detected in the commercial system (deep litter system) with (73.5%) followed by backyard system (free range) (35.7%). Furthermore, the prevailing Newcastle disease seropositivity in the chicken production system indicates the importance of Newcastle disease in poultry industry of the studied areas, therefore to effectively control the disease, more attention should be given to those areas by adopting prophylaxis through the use of heat resistant ND vaccines for the chickens.
