Incidence of Multidrug Resistance Escherichia Coli Bacteria in Broiler Chickens in Malang Regency

Chicken meat is an important source of protein but the presence of bacterial infections such as colibacillosis is a major concern for the chicken producers. Further, colibacillosis is a major cause of mortality, morbidity, and economic loss for the poultry industry. Various efforts including the use of antibiotics have been carried out to treat colibacillosis. Recently, inappropriate use of antibiotics not only induced antibiotic resistance, but sometimes it might change into multidrug resistance due to a large number of antibiotic uses. This study aimed to identify the incidence of multidrug resistance in broiler chickens on 4 farms of Malang Regency. For this, samples of 40 chicken jejunum swabs that had a history of colibacillosis with clinical symptoms of lethargy, drooping, dwarfism, hair loss, depression, thinness, diarrhea, abdominal swelling, and osteoarthritis were used in this study. Testing begins with a microscopic examination, followed by the isolation of E. coli on Nutrient broth (NB) and Eosin Methylene Blue Agar (EMBA) media, and finally, antibiotic sensitivity was tested against eight antibiotics namely Gentamicin, Bacitracin, Enrofloxacin, Doxycycline, Oxytetracycline, Erythromycin, Colistin, and Amoxicillin on Mueller-Hinton Agar (MHA) media. The microscopic observations showed that the chickens had a hemorrhage in the proventriculus and intestines, pericarditis, and fibrinous exudate in the air sacs and heart. Among the tested samples, 72.5% (29 samples) were found positive for E. coli. Further, in case of antibiotic resistance, 100% of E. coli positive samples were found resistant to Erythromycin, Bacitracin, and Amoxicillin, 96.6% to Enrofloxacin, 92.6% to Oxytetracycline, 37.9% to Colistin and Doxycycline, 10.3% to Gentamicin. Results of the study can be concluded that most of the E.coli positive samples have antibiotic resistance and the maximum samples are showing multidrug resistance against four or more antibiotics.