Assessment of biosecurity initiatives on broiler farms in Khartoum, Sudan

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the present biosecurity measures in broiler farms in Khartoum and to
compare between the biosecurity practices followed in closed system and open system farms. The primary
information that included numbers of broiler poultry in each farms, locations in the state and type of farms
were obtained from Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Khartoum. Multi-stage cluster sampling
method was used; collection of information was done at different levels (sites, farms and persons). A total of
45 broiler farms (13 closed and 32 open systems) were chosen from Khartoum, Khartoum North and
Omdurman. Data were collected by using structured questionnaire. The respondents were farm owners,
farm managers, veterinarians and workers. The results showed that the closed system had a higher level of
biosecurity than the open system. 100% of the closed system practiced all in all out system when compared
with 81.3% of the open system farms. The open system farms had less secure boundaries; 28.1% of the
farms did not have fence when compared with 100% of the closed system farms. Only 2.2% of the farms had
washing by disinfectants at the gates. The distance among the pens in each farm which was more than 100
m was 33.3%. Among the 45 farms, 87.5% disinfected the equipment before each production cycle. It was
found that 88.9% of the farms collected dead chickens once daily. The results, also, showed that 57% of the
farms did not use disinfectants in their foot dips of each pen and 84.4% had no warning signs for entrance of
unauthorized people. Among these farms, 17.8% had control plan for vermin, 68.9% of the farms isolated the
sick birds, and 26.7% were found to keep different species of birds other than poultry and 15.5% used to
treat drinking water for poultry. It is concluded that the majority of the farms in were far from application of
biosecurity measures.