ABSTRACT

A survey on the Abuse of Antibiotics in Poultry Production was carried out in Umuahia/Ikwano Local Government in Abia State. The study was focused on the reasons why farmers abuse antibiotics, to determine the most effective and frequently used antibiotics in poultry production, and also to examine the factors affecting the degree of abuse of antibiotics. A structural questionnaire was use to collect data from 60 poultry farmers selected randomly in the areas. Simple descriptive statistic and regression analysis were used to analyses the data from the questionnaire. The result of this study showed that antibiotics are highly abuse by poultry farmers. 86.67% of the farmers interviewed were males while 13.33% were females. Antibiotics were administered by the owner of the farm manager without diagnosis and proper prescription by a qualified veterinarian. 23% of the farmers interviewed admitted that they submitted samples for laboratory diagnosis before embarking on any from of antibiotic therapy while 77% of the farmers do not. Tetracycline were used by 92% of the farmers and are indicated as the drug of choice in the management and prevention of most bacterial infection. Erythromycin was also used by 67% of farmer while penicillin and neomycin were the least used by 10% of the farmers. The result also showed that sex , age , education, experience, drug availability and mortality affect the degree of use of antibiotics. It is expected that the finding of this work will help in developing new strategies for prudent use of antibiotics by poultry farmers.