Implication of coprophagy in pathogenesis of chicken botulism.

Oral administration of 1 x 10(7) viable spores of Clostridium botulinum type C killed the chickens kept on a board floor to allow them coprophagy, whereas the same dose of the spores failed to develop symptoms in those kept on a wire-net floor not to allow them coprophagy. Type C toxin was detected in the cecal droppings of the chickens of both the groups after feeding the spores and also in serum of symptomatic as well as asymptomatic chickens kept on a board floor. Thus, coprophagy, by which chickens ingest type C toxin (C1 L toxin) and the bacterial cells, seems to be a prerequisite for development of chicken botulism.