Vet World   Vol.16   August-2023  Article-1

Morphological and molecular characteristics of Plasmodium juxtanucleare in layer chicken from three districts of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Background and Aim: Blood parasite infections in poultry, such as Plasmodium, are a serious threat to the poultry industry due to their potential to cause economic losses. To date, there has been inadequate research on the morphological and molecular detection of the different Plasmodium species that infect poultry in Indonesia. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the morphological and molecular characteristics of Plasmodium spp. and the several predisposing factors for Plasmodium infection in layer chickens from three districts of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Materials and Methods: One hundred and five blood samples from layer chickens were collected from 13 farms located in three districts of Yogyakarta (Sleman, Bantul, and Kulon Progo) between September and November 2022. Blood samples were subjected to microscopic and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. Sequencing was performed using basic local alignment search tools to identify the nucleotide structure of cytochrome b. Phylogenetic analysis of Plasmodium was performed using the MEGA-X software.

Results: Microscopic examination revealed that 17/105 positives (16.19%) were positive for blood parasite infection. Trophozoites, erythrocytic meronts, and microgametocytes of Plasmodium were found in blood samples. Based on the morphological examination, the species found in the samples was close to Plasmodium juxtanucleare. Polymerase chain reaction examination revealed that 21/60 samples were positive for Plasmodium (35%). The Plasmodium species identified from the sequenced samples were proven to be P. juxtanucleare. The P. juxtanucleare from Thailand was closely related to samples (99.64%–100%) with a genetic distance of 0%–1%. In addition, age, population, and cage type were not significantly associated with Plasmodium infection.

Conclusion: Based on microscopic and PCR examinations, the Plasmodium species found in the three districts of Yogyakarta was P. juxtanucleare. The genetic distance between samples from the three districts of Yogyakarta was closely related (0%–1%) to P. juxtanucleare from Thailand and Japan. There was no correlation between Plasmodium infection and age, cage type, or population. Keywords: avian malaria, cytochrome b gene, layer chicken, polymerase chain reaction.

Keywords: avian malaria, cytochrome b gene, layer chicken, polymerase chain reaction.

How to cite this article: Dhamayanti E, Priyowidodo D, Nurcahyo W, and Firdausy LW (2023) Morphological and molecular characteristics of Plasmodium juxtanucleare in layer chicken from three districts of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Veterinary World, 16(8): 1576-1583.

Received: 03-03-2023  Accepted: 22-06-2023     Published online: 10-08-2023

Corresponding author: Dwi Priyowidodo   E-mail: priyo@ugm.ac.id

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.1576-1583

Copyright: Dhamayanti, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.