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poultry plays a role in many traditional ceremonies and festivals , and scavenging poultry reduces the population of vermin .
increasing productivity of poultry husbandry may help reduce poverty and improve household 's food safety [ 3 , 4 ] . a participatory diagnosis carried out with the breeders in the commune of ouak identified mortality as the major limiting factor in turkey husbandry . in several african countries ,
the village poultry production level is suboptimal mainly due to predation and contagious diseases . in benin , which has approximately 14 million poultries , newcastle disease ( nd )
was clinically confirmed in chicken ; its prvalence was 67% for local chickens in atacora and donga .
serum antibodies against the avian influenza virus ( ai ) were detected in chicken even in the absence of any vaccination .  
indeed , in their extensive husbandry system , scavenging turkeys are exposed to various infectious agents through contact with other poultry species and birds .
farmers in ouak , known for their turkey husbandry , have noticed increasing mortality and decreasing flock sizes in recent years .
the hypothesis of the present study is that nd and ai are the principal constraints of turkey production in ouak .
the commune of ouak is located between 9 and 10 north and 1 and 2 east and covers a surface of 1500  km .
ouak neighbours togo and belongs at present to the department of donga but formerly it was the southern point of atacora .
ouak has a humid sudanian climate with two seasons and an average temperature of 27c .
we selected 19 husbandries from among voluntary turkey breeders raising more than 3 animals in 7 villages .
we surveyed husbandry conditions and clinical descriptions of diseases and mortalities , and collected blood samples of turkeys .
blood was collected with a syringe and a sterile needle from the wing vein of each turkey and stored in a sterile tube  vacutainer  .
after coagulation of the blood at ambient temperature , the serum was transferred in eppendorf tubes at 20c at the laboratory until testing .   considering herd representation , we used a weighted random sample of 85 serums drawn from the 120 turkeys .
these serums were analyzed by using the hit following procedures of the reference laboratory for nd and ai ( instituto zooprofilacttico sperimentale delle venezie , legnano padova , italy ) .
the hit reaction is based on the property of specific bacteria and viruses to bind red blood cells of poultry due to the presence of agglutinins in the cells .
the hit was carried out in three stages :   washing of the red globules with pbs , 3  5 in a centrifuge at 6,000  rpm , titration of antigens ( ndv , h7n3 , h9n2 , h5n1 , and h5n2 ) of oie / fao laboratory for ai and nd to be used in hit , hit in nunc plates of 96  v-shaped wells .  
 in each plate , five serums were analyzed in the first five wells of the first column , the positive and negative serums were placed in wells 6 and 7 , and the last well ( h1 ) sheltered the control .
the hit was carried out in the veterinary laboratory ( ladisero ) of parakou .  
after graphical analysis and calculating proportions , we used the fisher test for their comparison .
households keep various species together : chickens , guinea fowls , turkeys , and ducks . in day time
, the turkeys are made to scavenge , but at night time , in all visited households , they were housed either in a traditional hen house ( 90% ) , or on perches ( 6% ) , or in other shelters ( 4% ) .  
recorded losses were caused by various predators : birds ( during day time ) , carnivores , snakes and dogs .
moreover , the poultry were exposed to loss , theft , and disease by wild birds carrying infectious agents .  
they give them crushed cereals , and sometimes termites , maggots or kitchen left overs , in addition to what the turkeys have already scavenged during the day .
the mangers and drinking troughs used in the majority of the husbandries are empty cans , broken plates or broken pottery . in the traditional hen houses , the standards of ventilation , hygiene and density are seldom respected .
the average density in ouak is 58 adults m , while the standard is 34 adults m. the sanitary status of the housing varies between the households .
sick birds are sold , slaughtered , or treated with inadequate pharmaceutical products or by medicinal plants whose therapeutic virtues are known to some breeders only . only turkey breeders who have received training in poultry farming try to improve the housing , ensure hygiene in these housings , and follow a vaccination schedule .
the death rate among 0-to 30-day - old turkey poults varied between 55 and 100% , and 30% for the 30- to 120- day - old turkey poults . this death rate fell to 15% among 4-month and older turkeys .
death rates of turkeys varied also between farmers and villages , also because some villages had one farmer only .
one farmer having attended a training of a poultry project obtained a better result : 11% mortality among 04.5-month - old turkey poults .
mortality is higher in the harmatan season ( low night temperatures , winds carrying dust , when green vegetation and insects are rare ) .
a preliminary inventory revealed that fowl pox , newcastle disease , gumboro disease , coccidiosis , histomonosis ( histomonas meleagridis ) , capillariosis ( capillariasis philippinensis ) , scabies ( sarcoptes scabiei ) , colibacillosis ( escherichia coli ) prevail in the turkey husbandries of ouak .
part of these diseases is related to the husbandry practices : the state of the housing ( if existing ) , the scavenging , the absence of mangers and drinking troughs , insufficient feeds , absence of specific vaccinations and antibiotics .
the average rate of prevalence of specific antibodies of the nd virus was 54% ( table 1 ) .
the prevalence rates vary between villages from 40 to 80% with titers of the antibody going from 1  :  16 to 1  :  256 . the titers higher than 1  :  16 are regarded as negative for turkeys , species other than chickens .
the nd prevalence in gobblers was significantly higher than that in hens : 53.4% and 36.4% , respectively ( p = .014 ) .
gobblers are more often positive than hens of 17 month and older ( table 2 ) . in view of the small sample size ( gobblers 8 on 15 and
the serums were negative to viral sub - types h7n3 , h9n2 , h5n2 , and h5n1 of ai virus ( table 3 ) .
this indicates the absence of specific antibodies against these various sub - types of the ai virus in the study area , notwithstanding , the appearance of ai in benin in december 2007 .
the positive hit tests on nd in turkeys in this study confirm the clinical presence of this disease in benin .
turkeys of various ages and sexes from seven villages reacted positively to nd which implies that the wild virus is present in turkey husbandries in the commune of ouak .
nd is considered the most devastating for village poultry farming [ 11 , 12 ] .
efforts of the veterinary service to have farmers vaccinate poultry are not effective as farmers doubt on the cost effectiveness of the vaccination .
the absence of specific antibodies against sub - types h7n3 , h9n2 , h5n1 , and h5n2 of the ai virus in the hit reaction excludes presence of this virus in the husbandries sampled for the present study .
but epidemiologic monitoring needs to continue since the commune is a border area and is in the proximity of a national park where migratory birds land .   controlling the sanitary constraints by vaccinations and other preventive measures [ 11 , 13 ] will not result in a significant improvement of productivity in village poultry since husbandry practices also constitute a limiting factor .
the dramatic reduction of the death rates in one husbandry shows that simple hygienic measures contribute to control of diseases .   by providing separate housing for the various poultry species ,
the transfer of infectious agent from less sensitive to more sensitive species can be reduced ( ducks are less sensitive to ai than chickens and turkeys ) .
the level of complementary feeding and housing of turkey poults in the majority of the visited husbandries remain insufficient .
scavenging prevails in daytime and farmers do not apply techniques to produce termites or maggots .   locally in burkina faso   and benin , researchers teach small producers to formulate poultry diets by using collected termites or maggots .
feeding the turkey poults a home - made diet makes it possible to maintain them indoors for the first weeks of life ; thus , reduce various infections and predation .  
adjusting the husbandry practices seems simple and not costly but as adoption does not autonomously spread from one farmer to the others , the profitability of disease prevention needs to be checked .
subsequently , the use of appropriate approaches of training and extension on these husbandry practices by the veterinary services and other development organisations might lead to a reduction of turkey mortality and contribute to poverty reduction in this commune .
most extension and training are still top - down paternalistic and use insufficient participatory learning approaches .
newcastle disease is a major limiting factor in turkey production in the study area , but avian influenza was not prevalent . considering the local epidemiologic situation in the area ,
other studies need to establish an appropriate prevention plan for the dominant pathologies of turkeys .
however vaccination alone will not increase productivity of village poultry in view of the multiplicity of related limiting factors such as housing and feeding .   improved husbandry practices , together with the distribution of home - made feed ,
the profitability of these actions needs to be demonstrated to the poultry keepers before turkey farming can contribute to poverty reduction .
sanitary constraints of raising turkey in north - west benin were studied by using a survey and haemagglutination inhibition test ( hit ) to detect antibodies of newcastle disease ( nd ) and avian influenza ( ai ) . 
 we tested 85 serums from 7- to 24-month - old turkeys raised in 19 farms . 
 nd prevalence rate was 54% but reactions on four sub - types of ai were negative . 
 mortality rates varied from 55 to 100% for 030 day - old flocks ; 30% for 1- to 4-month - old ; and 15% for older turkeys . 
 next to nd , probable causes of mortality are fowl pox , gumboro disease , scabies , coccidiosis , histomonosis , capillariosis and colibacillosis . 
 only one farmer who fed and vaccinated the poults , and provided clean housing for them got a lower mortality rate of 11% in turkeys less than 4-month - old . 
 the question remains why most farmers do not apply these simple practices : are they unaware or are the technologies not profitable ?