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Molecular prevalence of Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae in three domestic free-range poultry breeds in Anhui Province, China

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Abstract

Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae can colonize the alimentary tract of domestic birds. However, little information is available on the epidemiology of the two trichomonad species in domestic free-range poultry in China. In this study, the occurrence and genetic characteristic of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae among free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in Anhui Province, China, were investigated. The 1910 fecal samples collected from 18 free-range poultry farms throughout Anhui Province were examined for the presence of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae by PCR and sequence analysis of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene of T. gallinarum and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence of T. gallinae. The overall occurrence of T. gallinarum in poultry was 1.2% (22/1910), with infection rates of 2.1% (17/829) in chickens, 0.2% (1/487) in ducks, and 0.7% (4/594) in geese. The constructed phylogeny tree using the concatenated ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and SSU rRNA indicated the T. gallinarum isolates detected in this study were closely related to previously defined genogroups A, D, and E, respectively. Nine (0.5%) fecal samples were positive for T. gallinae, with infection rates of 0.8% (7/829) in chickens, 0.4% (2/487) in ducks, and 0% (0/594) in geese. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis showed that four T. gallinae ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences obtained from chicken feces and one duck fecal sample belonged to genotype ITS-OBT-Tg-1. This is the first report of the prevalence and genetic characterization of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae in free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in China.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff on the farms for their assistance with this study. We also thank Suzanne Leech, PhD, from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn) for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (1808085MC84, and 1908085QC116), the School-level Talent Project of Anhui Science and Technology University (dkwd201702), the School-level Talent Introduction Project of Anhui Science and Technology University (DKYJ201902), and the Natural Science Research Projects of Anhui Science and Technology University (2021lzryb08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Regulation and Health, College of Animal Science, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang, Chuzhou, 233100, People’s Republic of China

    Dong-qian Chen, Xin-yu Luo, Qiao-qiao Li, Jin-chao Pan, Hen Zhang, Yue-yue Gu, Zhen-zhen Kan, Jia-min Huang, Zhui Fang, Xin-chao Liu, You-fang Gu & Wen-Chao Li

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  1. Dong-qian Chen
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  2. Xin-yu Luo
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  3. Qiao-qiao Li
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Correspondence to Wen-Chao Li.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Animal Care and Welfare Committee of Anhui Science and Technology University under the approved protocol number AHSTU-2010–16, Fengyang, China. All the fecal samples from the poultry were collected with the permission of the poultry owners.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, Dq., Luo, Xy., Li, Qq. et al. Molecular prevalence of Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae in three domestic free-range poultry breeds in Anhui Province, China. Parasitol Res 121, 2841–2848 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-022-07617-1

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