Iraqi Journal of Veterinary Sciences

Abstract

Laboratory methods are essential for the diagnosis of Mycoplasmal infection. There are three laboratory approaches are essential for the diagnosis of Mycoplasmal infection in chicken including direct methods by culture method and polymerase chain reaction, and indirect methods by detection of Mycoplasmal antibodies by serological tests. This study aimed to detection of Mycoplasma by culture and PCR technique. Two hundred seventy-six samples were collected from infected adult boiler chicken in Salah Al-din province which suffering from respiratory signs and /or joint infection, 202 respiratory and 74 articular samples. According to the results of culture, Mycoplasma isolated in rate of 35.1% (36.6% from respiratory samples and 31.1% from articular samples). The sensitivity of culture was 100%, while the specificity of culture was 97.9% when comparing with PCR results. The current study concluded that the respiratory infection was more than articular infections, and Mycoplasma gallisepticum more distributed than Mycoplasma synoviae among chickens.