KARACHI, Dec 24: Speakers at a workshop on Saturday called for interaction between academics, farmers and poultry industries for the development of healthier and effective birds and farms in the country.

They said that manipulation of environment by mankind, misuse of antibiotics in poultry feeds also made the animals prone to diseases, which in return made the human bodies susceptible to many diseases. Proper vaccination of poultry flocks, proper disposal of dead birds, education of people for better understanding of bird diseases also were held necessary towards production of chicken food.

The workshop on “Bacterial diseases of the poultry and their remedies” was jointly organized by M.A.H Qadri Biological Research Centre, Institute of Environmental Studies and Microbiology department of the University of Karachi.

Speaking as chief guest, KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim said that the poultry industries were next to textile and there was greater need to develop it on modern lines. He stressed the need for developing research linkage programmes involving varsities and poultry industries.

He said that the related expertise available with the varsities could be used for the development of mobile pathological testing facilities aiming at early diagnosis of diseases in birds.

Dr Pirzada said that proper education of poultry staff across the province was also necessary as ignorance and indiscriminate use of antibiotics and medicines multiplied the problems of the poultry sector.

The chairperson of microbiology department, Dr Nusrat Jameel, said that since the role of farmers was important to overcome the surge in bird diseases it would be viable that farmers be educated at their doorstep.

We can develop short training programmes and informative literatures for farmers and poultry owners to keep them abreast of the diseases and the prevention and cure system.

The dean of Agriculture University Faisalabad, Dr Ehsanul Haq, called for developing new techniques suiting to the local conditions to reduce poultry diseases.

Dr Aqeel Ahmad, director of M.A.H Biological Research Centre of KU, said that the workshop would go a long way in developing effective vaccines, diagnostic methods and finding rationale means to use antibiotics and other therapeutic substances in the poultry.

He said that like mankind animals, including poultry also developed stress related disorders which rendered them prone to diseases.

One of the biggest causes of pseudomonas infection is contaminated syringes used in hatcheries and farms for vaccination. Sometime causing 100 per cent mortality of day old chicks within 24-48 hours, he remarked.

Dr Moazzam Ali Khan of the Institute of Environmental Studies, Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi and Dr M Shakeel A Khan also spoke at the concluding session.

Among other measures, the workshop also recommended for cooperation between vets and human health agencies, mitigation of stress in birds, establishment of poultry diagnostic laboratories, eradication of infected flocks, testing of feeds ingredients, fumigation of hatchery and poultry farms, chlorination of water, monitoring of hatchery sanitation, sterilization of vaccination equipments and sterility tests of vaccines, diluents and optimum utilization of genetic potentiality of birds.

According to Dr Tariq Mahmood of NIAB Faisalabad, the use of expired vaccines, genetic resistance, health status of flock, immunosuppressant, water deprivation, heat stress and poor nutrition can also be blamed for failure of vaccines.

According to Dr Zafarul Islam Siddiqui of the University of Agriculture, Lahore, there are more than 240,000 people working in the poultry industry of Pakistan.

He added that there were 285 hatcheries producing 500 million day-old chicks annually, while 155 feed mills were providing over 6 million tonnes of feeding compounds annually.