الفهرس 
Discussion
Infection dynamicsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Quail farming became indivisible part of poultry production system in Egypt and participate in supplying animal protein. But, there are several problems hinder development of this branch of poultry production like parasitism that constitutes a major factor limiting productivity of the poultry industry through affecting feed conversion rate, dropping of egg production, increased susceptibility to other infections, and death in young birds. So, this study was done for evaluation of parasitic infection rate among the diseased quails spread in Assiut, Kafr El-Sheikh, and El-Gharbya governorates where 101 clinically ill quails were collected from October 2017 to October 2018 and their intestines, blood, respiratory tracts, livers, and brains were parasitologically examined.
It was found that, the extent of parasitological invasion in the studied quails was 54.5% that was relatively higher in the cold seasons (57%) than warm seasons (53.5%). No ectoparasites or helminthes were detected. The intestinal protozoa occupied large sector among the detected protozoa (43.6%) while the extra-intestinal protozoa prevalence rates were lower in blood (24.8%) than other organs (27.7%).
The most common intestinal protozoon was identified was Eimeria spp. (29.7%), followed by Cryptosporidium sp. (18.8%), Tetratrichomonas galinarum sp. (14.9%), Cyclospora sp. (3.96%), and Isospora and Microsporidia spp were with same least prevalence of 2.97%
The intestinal protozoal infection rate was higher in warm seasons (45.9%) than cold seasons (40%).
The obtained data showed that the incidence rate of mixed infection was higher (24.8%) than the single infection (18.8%). The mixed infection incidence rate was higher in the cold seasons than warm (25% and 24.6%, respectively). On the other hand, the single infection frequency was higher in warm seasons than cold (21.3% and 15%, respectively).
The most prevalent intestinal protozoon to occur as single infection was Eimeria sp. (11.9%) followed by Cryptosporidium spp. (3.98%), Tetratrichomonas sp. (1.98%), then Isospora sp. infection (0.9%). The incidence of Eimeria infection as a mixed infection was higher than being single (17.8%) either doubled with Cryptosporidium (5.9%), Tetratrichomonas (6.9%), and Cyclospora (0.9%); or multiple with more than protozoon as the combination with Cyclospora, and Microsporidia (1.98%), with Cryptosporidium, Tetratrichomonas, and Microsporidia (0.9%), and with Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium (0.9%).
The incidence of Cryptosporidium as a mixed infection was higher than being single (14.85% and 3.95%, respectively) either doubled with Eimeria (5.9%), Tetratrichomonas (4.9%), and Isospora (1.98%); or multiple with Eimeria, Tetratrichomonas, and Microsporidia (0.9%), and with Eimeria, and Cyclospora (0.9%).
In general, the Eimeria infection rate was higher in cold seasons (37.5%) than warm season (24.6%). The encountered Eimeria spp. were E.tsunodai, E.uzura, and E.bateri.
It was noticed that the prevalence of intestinal cryptosporidiosis was relatively high in cold seasons (20%) and low in warm (18%) and C.baileyi and C.meleagridis could be recovered.
Many variable blood protozoa were observed with a total of 24.8% infection rate. The most encountered blood protozoon in this study was Leuckocytozoon sp. (8.9%) followed by Babesiosoma sp. (7.9 %), and Aegyptenella sp. with 6.9% infection rate, then Plasmodium sp and Haemoproteus sp. that had equal infection rate (3.96%), and Atoxoplasma sp. and Ehrlichia sp. had the least infection rate (0.99%).
27.7% prevalence of extra-intestinal protozoal infection in quails was detected. The respiratory organs was found to had the highest parasitic infection with Cryptosporidium sp. (23.8%) followed by brain with 6.9% toxoplasmosis incidence rate the liver with 2.97% histomoniasis incidence rate.
from the data obtained in this study appeared that quail parasitic infections are not something that can be safely ignored and can participate largely in quail diseases and production. So, more clinical and pathological studies are necessary on quails.