Assessment Of Different Laboratory Media On The Embryonation Rate Of Ascaridia Galli Eggs:- Chukwukere, Adaobi J

ABSTRACT A. galli eggs, adults and A. galli infections in birds such as chickens are vastly used for a variety of important studies such as in the study of the life cycle of the parasite, response ofthe chickens to A. galli infections, study of the pathogenicity ofA. galli in chickens and other breeds of birds, in vitro testing ofthe efficacy of anthelmintics, in vivo testing of the efficacy of anthelmintics, testing the development of anthelmintic resistance to various anthelmintics used in poultry by the nematode, in vitro and in vivo testing of the anthelmintic potential of some natural resources like folkloric plants used for control ofhelminth infections. In the situations listed above, embryonation or embryonation process is often required at one stage or the other. A. galli eggs are normally cultured in established media such as formalin and sulphuric acid. However, drawing from the fact that embryonation occurs in nature in the various poultry production systems, it was thought that several other solvents/liquids commonly used in the laboratory for other purposes could also permit the embryonation ofA. galli eggs in them and as such can be used as culture media for A. galli eggs. It was on this basis that the current study was designed to investigate the embryonation of A. galli eggs in some commonly used laboratory solvents/liquids. The potential of solvents/liquids (media) namely phosphate buffered saline (PBS), normal saline, distilled water, tap water or their combinations for the embryonation ofA. galli was assessed. A. galli eggs used for the study were isolated from adult A. galli obtained from slaughtered layers. Cultures of egg suspensions with different media and their combinations were set in Petri dishes on bench tops in the laboratory at room temperature (27- 28°C). The embryonation was monitored twice daily by taking aliquots of 0.1ml of the 20ml egg suspension in each Petri dish and observing under the microscope at xlOO magnification up to day 20 when the study ended. A. galli developed in all the media tested although at varying rates with phosphate buffered saline having the highest rate of 84%. It was suggested based on the results that the media studied here could be used for the embryonation ofA. galli eggs. However, for the purpose of in vivo studies there is a need to conduct in vivo experimental infections to ascertain the viability ofsuch eggs.