Isolation and Characterization of Clostridium Perfringens from Suspected Cases of Necrotic Enteritis (NE) in Broiler Chicken

Considering necrotic enteritis (NE) as an economically important problem of broiler industry, a study was undertaken to establish the association of Clostridium perfringens with the disease. Screening of 35 fecal samples/intestinal scrapping of broiler chicken, either clinically affected or died due to the suspected form of NE revealed isolation of C. perfringens from 13 (37.14%) samples. Among the isolates, 10 were identified as toxin type A, while remaining three as toxin type C. One of the toxin type A revealed the presence of additional virulence-associated genes, netB and tpeL. Irrespective of toxin types, C. perfringens isolates showed resistance towards Ciprofloxacin (76.92%), followed by Norfloxacin (53.85%), Tetracycline (46.15%), Colistin (23.07%) and Levofloxacin (15.38%), of which eight could exhibit resistance towards multiple antimicrobial agents. The release of C. perfringens toxins was found to be more, during the 6-8 hrs of incubation with 13 distinct protein bands including of cpa, netB and tpeL protein. The toxin type A with additional virulence-associated genes was found to be more pathogenic in mice pathogenicity test.