[Necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens. III. Study of the factors favoring the multiplication of Clostridium perfringens and the experimental transmission of the disease].

Necrotic enteritis was reproduced experimentally in two week old broiler chickens by intravenous injection and also by oral administration of a pure culture of Clostridium perfringens. In the first experiment, gross and microscopic intestinal lesions, typical of necrotic enteritis, were observed in all diseased birds and mortality was obtained only in the group of birds that were injected with 0.4 ml or more of the pure culture of the microorganism. In the second experiment, the highest mortality was noted in the group of birds that received orally, in addition to the Clostridium culture, a solution of sodium bicarbonate, to obtain an alkaline intestinal content and opium to decrease the intestinal peristaltism. The gross and microscopie intestinal lesions of the diseased and killed birds were more severe than those observed in the other groups and were similar to those encountered in field outbreaks of necrotic enteritis.