Abstract

Poultry is a source of Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Antibiotics can be used to reduce the enumeration and prevalence of these bacteria. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of sulfadimethoxine antibiotic on the enumeration and prevalence of Salmonella, Escherichia coli and aerobic plate count in broilers. Broilers (n = 600) were allotted to two treatments, each with twelve replications. The treatments were control (drinking water without antibiotic) and with antibiotic at 0.05% (wt/vol) sulfadimethoxine. After a six-week period, the enumeration of Salmonella in the experimental treatment was detected at 2.55 log CFU/g. This value is not different (P>0.05) than that detected in the control at 2.81 log CFU/g. With respect to prevalence, there was a difference (P<0.05) between the experimental treatment at 90.0% and the control at 100%. The enumeration of E. coli in the experimental treatment was detected at 3.97 log CFU/g. This value is lower (P<0.05) than that detected in the control treatment at 4.37 log CFU/g. With respect to prevalence, there was no difference (P>0.05) between the experimental treatment at 100% and the control at 100%. The enumeration of aerobic plate count in the antibiotic treatment were detected at 6.62 log CFU/g. This value is lower (P<0.05) than that detected in the control at 7.50 log CFU/g. With respect to prevalence, there was no difference (P>0.05) between treatments. Our overall findings suggest that the use of the antibiotic sulfadimethoxine can reduce the number of E. coli, Salmonella and aerobic plate count in the small-scale broiler operations.

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