LAUSR

Ascaridia (A.) galli is one of the most commonly occurring nematodes in poultry worldwide, often in hens and broiler chickens. The infection with Ascaridia galli in free-range chickens was even 70%. There is not much information about A. galli genetic features. The present study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity of A. galli isolated from hens in Poland by analyzing the nucleotide sequence of the region ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2 and to define its homology within the family Ascaridiidae. Adult A. galli were collected from the intestines of naturally infected hens from two flocks of free-run laying hens from the Wielkopolska region in Poland. From all parasites an identical ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2 sequence was obtained, which was homologous in 99% with A. columbae (JQ995321.1) sequence. The high homology sequences of A. galli (KX683286) from Poland and A. columbae (JQ995321.1) isolate from the USA, support the observations of other authors suggesting that A. galli and A. columbae might be closely related. It is the first whole ITS1-5.8rRNA-ITS2 of A. galli in the GenBank database, so there is not enough data for detailed phylogenetic analysis of A. galli. Detailed genetic analysis is necessary to get better insight into the birds’ Ascaridia species.