Sarcocystis species in some birds and theirs prevalance

45 6. SUMMARY In the current study, muscle samples purchased from 100 housed hens, 25 turkeys and 1 8 ducks in Elazığ and towns of Sivrice, Baskil and Keban as well as various villages in Elazığ province, and from 400 battery hens slaughtered, 20 hunted partridges together with 21 pigeons were examined for Sarcocystis. No macrocyst was evident in any of fowls examined. In analyses of breast, neck, leg and heart muscle samples by digestion technique, microcysts were found in 38 out of 100 housed hens (38%), 5 out of 25 turkeys (20%) and 2 out of 20 partridges (10%) but none was detected in samples from battery hens, ducks and pigeons. Two species of microscopic Sarcocystis cysts were observed in housed hens. The first, S. horvathi cysts were 68.5 x 652.5 f.im and found to be unclearly chambered. The cyst wall contained finger-like protrusions measuring 2.3-3.2 pirn. Bananashaped bradyzoites of the parasite were found to be 2.25 x 10.15 /Keyword: Güvercinler = Pigeons ; Hindiler = Turkeys ; Keklik = Partridges ; Sarcocystis = Sarcocystis ; Tavuklar = Chickens ; Ördekler = Ducks