A Study on Prevalence and Virulence Characterisation of Salmonella enterica subsp enterica Isolated from Poultry and Related Environment in India

In the present study 24 isolates of Salmonella enterica with a prevalence of 8.21% were recovered from a total of 292 samples collected from poultry and related environment. Twenty four isolates were found to belong to five different serovar while two isolates were rough. Among them, the serotype S. Haifa (58.33%) was found highly abundant followed by S. Heidelberg (20.83%), S. Virchow, S. Agona and S. Kentucky (4.16% each). Interestingly, serotype Salmonella Haifa is isolated and reported for the first time in India in present investigation. Out of 24 Salmonella isolates subjected to rabbit ligated ileal loop (RLIL) assay only 12 were found to be enterotoxigenic with dilatation index ranged from 0.40 to 0.43. These 12 isolates belonged to 4 serotypes viz S. Virchow (1), S. Heidelberg (2), S. Kentucky (1) and S. Haifa (7) while 1 isolate belonged to rough strain. All Salmonella isolates produced beneath the colony haemolysis (BCH) on blood agar made from washed erythrocytes of goat. None of the isolates were found positive for the production of enzymes viz. phenylalanine deaminase, lecithinase, phospholipase A, DNase, caseinase and gelatinase.