Prevalence of gastrointestinal protozoans in Japanese quails which were bred in Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

Japanese quail is belongs to the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae, and due to its size is like the chicken. This study investigated the level of gastrointestinal parasites in 300 Japanese quails (127 male and 173 female). Determination of the prevalence of infections was based on faecal and intestinal examination. Samples (n = 300) collected from Japanese quails of gender and stool position were analyzed using three techniques, i.e., centrifugal flotation in sucrose solution, Ziehl–Neelsen and Gimsa staining. The overall prevalence of parasitism was 89 (29.66%) of Japanese quails. The parasites most frequently detected were: Eimeria spp. (28.3%) and Cryptosporidium spp. (2%). There was no significant difference in the prevalence between male (29.92%) and female (29.47%) quails (P>0.05). There was significantly (P< 0.05) greater prevalence of parasites in diarrhea group (72.7%) than non- diarrhea group (2.1%). Ninethy six % of Japanese quails were shedded oocyst in their feces. The results of this study showed that intestinal protozoan infections have high prevalence in the Japanese quails.