Abstract
This study was performed to investigate salmonella infection in Japanese quails, also its incidence, clinical signs, postmortem lesion, serotypes, antibiotic resistance, and virulence with an experimental treatment trial. A total of 100 samples were collected from quails suffering from diarrhea and mortalities from 10 farms (10 birds from each) at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt. Samples were aseptically collected and were processed for the isolation and identification of salmonella spp. Incidence of salmonella infections was (17%), detected serotypes were S. infantis 58.8 %( 10/17), S. salame17.6% (3/17), S. Kentucky 11.8 %( 2/17), S. Isangi 5.8% (1/17), S. Colorado 5.8% (1/17). Virulence genes such as invA and sopB were detected in all examined isolates while no one had pefA and for antibiotics resistance genes all 10 isolates carried tetB, 3 isolates, and 2 isolates of them carrying qnrS and blaMox respectively. Susceptibility of isolated Salmonella serotypes to antimicrobial agents showed 100% resistance to oxytetracycline and erythromycin and serotypes were sensitive to fosfomycin (16/17) (94.11%). In the experimental design, one hundred and twenty, one-day-old Salmonella free quail chicks, were used to study the pathogenicity of Salmonella isolates (S. Infantis). Quails Chicks were divided into 6 groups (20 per group), the first group (G1) was kept as non-infected control and group 2 (G2) as infected control, group 3 (G3) was non-infected and given organium oil from1-19 days, group 4 (G4) was infected and treated with fosfomycin on the 2nd-day post-infection for 5 days, group 5 (G5) was infected and given organium oil from 1-19 day and, group 6 (G6) was infected and treated with fosfomycin on the 2nd-day post-infection for 5 days and given organium oil from1-19 day. The birds in groups (2, 4, 5, and 6) were infected orally with 0.5 ml of S. Infantis containing 107CFU on the 10th-day of age. Observation of the chicks daily for clinical signs and mortalities was done for 2 weeks post-infection. PM examination of dead and very sick chicks and bacteriological re-isolation. Our results showed that the birds that received fosfomycin and organium oil together (G6) showed more favorable clinical signs, mortality rate, post-mortem lesions, recovery rate, and shedding rate then (G4), and (G5), respectively than (G2). In the experimental design, blood samples were collected at 12 and 19 days of age (5 birds from each group each time) for Serum analysis, and total and differential leukocytes count, the analysis of variance showed that positive significant effect on treated groups (G3, G5, G6) with organium oil on total protein, albumin, globulin, and albumin globulin ratio (P<0.01), and on Total leucocytes count, basophils%, eosinophil %, heterophils %, lymphocytes%, and monocytes% (P<0.01) in comparison with non-treated groups (G1, G2, G4) with organium oil. So, we recommend the use of organium oil as an immune supplement in healthy birds, and in combination with the effective antibiotic for the treatment of diseased broiler Japanese quail with salmonellosis.

Key words: Japanese quail, salmonella spp., resistance genes, virulence genes, sensitivity test, organium oil, immune stimulant.