Prevalence of Menopon gallinae Linn. (Insecta, Phthiraptera, Menoponidae, Amblycera) upon poultry birds (Gallus gallus domesticus) of selected locality of district Chamoli Garhwal (Uttarakhand), India

Prevalence and intensity of infestation of Menopon gallinae (Linn.) was recorded from 688 poultry birds belonging to 30 selected locality of district Chamoli (Uttarakhand) during March, 2012 to February, 2013, out of which 310 were found infested (45.06%). Prevalence rate were higher in female (46.8%) than male (42%) birds in present investigation. Higher infestation were noted in certain parameters like captivity (larger group), poor health, poor hygienic condition, poor feather condition, black feather colour, desi breed and older birds. Singly reared, good health, good hygienic condition, good feather condition, mix colour, broiler breed and younger poultry birds were found to have least infestation. Intensity of infestation was noted by coding system. Maximum poultry bird bore very light (VL) infestation (29.68%) while very few were found with very heavy (VH) infestation (4.52%). Relative monthly intensity of infestation remained more or less similar in all the categories. Lice were peaked during summer in comparison to the winter. Strong positive correlation existed between monthly lice index and temperature (+0.79); lice index and photoperiod (+0.84), while the same were found insignificant with humidity (-0.23) and rainfall (-0.17).