Khurana, S. K.Choudhary, Shivani2019-02-042019-02-042013-01-14http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810093460In the present study, microbiological quality of chicken meat, eggs and their products was assessed by employing standards plate count and coliform count with special emphasis on Escherichia coli which is a food borne pathogen of public health importance. A total of 250 samples of raw and ready to eat chicken meat and eggs were screened for the presence of E. coli. Based on serotyping maximum prevalence was found in raw chicken (13.33%), followed by shell eggs (8 %), egg products (6.67%) and chicken products (4.76%). Among the twenty two isolates confirmed by serotyping, 12 isolates belonged to 10 different ‘O’ serogroups viz. O2, O8, O11, O13, O17, O21, O23, O35, O66 and O155 while 5 were rough strains and 5 were untypable strains. All the isolates were characterized in terms of antibiotic resistance/sensitivity, haemolysin production, plasmid profiles and presence of virulent genes. On the basis of PCR, ten out of 22 serotyped isolates revealed the presence of virulence genes with nine isolates showing the presence of eae and bfpA genes and one isolate having bfpA and stx1/stx2 genes. Antibiogram studies of the isolates revealed that 59.09% of the isolates were multidrug resistant with maximum isolates showing resistance to co-trimoxazole (86.36%), followed by tetracycline (68.18%), ofloxacin (40.91%) and piperacillin/tazobactam (40.91%) while cent per cent sensitivity was observed against kanamycin. Plasmid profiling revealed multiplicity and random distribution of plasmid DNA with plasmid bands ranging from 1.2 kb to >10 kb. None of the isolates displayed hemolytic activity. Due to ever increasing problem of antibiotic resistance, effect of both methanolic and aqueous extracts of pomegranate peels, orange peels, curry leaves, radish leaves, seabuckthorn leaves and ginger rhizomes was evaluated against E. coli. Only the aqueous and methanolic extracts of pomegranate peels were found effective against E. coli at the concentration of 8%, 9% and 10%.ennullThesis