, 1998 and Costa et al., 2001). Fernandez et al. (2003) identified species-specific markers for Eimeria spp. from a group of SCAR markers (Sequence-Characterized Amplified Region). This enabled the use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique, constituting an effective and integrated diagnosis method, which is able to detect the seven Eimeria species individually or simultaneously in a single reaction. The use of this technique has allowed Palbociclib chemical structure the rapid and efficient diagnosis of species of poultry coccidia ( Fernandez et al., 2003 and Lien

et al., 2007). This study was carried out to evaluate the infection and perform specific diagnosis using traditional and molecular methods during a field trial. The study was conducted on

broiler farms at the production complex of Feira de Santana, micro region in the North-central region of Bahia state. The area is composed by 24 municipalities and has a total area of 12,602,610 km2. The climate is tropical humid and the rainy season lasts from March to September, with annual rainfall ranging from 848 to 1200 mm, mean temperature of 26.5 °C and relative humidity ranging from 70% to 75%. Thirty broiler farms were selected for their suitability, pertaining to integrated companies in the region, as well as independent producers. Young birds come from different hatcheries housed in the farms up to one-day-old. Meaning the best homogeneity poultry flocks aged between 3 and 6 weeks where choose. During Sclareol the visits, technicians, veterinarians, NU7441 datasheet or owners participated in the activities providing health and performance information recorded as a questionnaire. Fresh fecal samples were collected at different houses on each farm, following

a straight line from one end to another with approximate distance of 50–70 m. Along this path, portions of feces were manually collected and placed in plastic bags. Next, all feces content was homogenized for the removal of approximately 200 g from the shed. Finally, the sub-samples of all sheds were put together for new homogenization and removal of 200 g of sample representative of that property. The samples were kept in plastic bags and transported under refrigeration to the Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz. During the sampling, from two to four birds were randomly separated in each house, sacrificed by cervical dislocation (CFMV, 2002), and necropsied for lesion scoring according to Johnson and Reid (1970). The samples were initially filtered through sieves covered with folded gauze and centrifuged at 3000 rpm (250 rounds) for 10 min. Then, all material was suspended into a solution of potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) at 2.5% for sporulation and placed into Petri dishes at room temperature for seven days.