author(s)
Anisa Qadir Janwari, Masood Saleem Mir, Umar Amin, Showkat Ahmad Shah, Majid Shafi, Hilal Musadiq Khan, Shayaib Ahmad Kamil and Mohammad Maqbool Darzi

abstract
Present study was aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated epidemiological factors of Pulmonary Hypertension Syndrome (Ascites) in commercial broiler chickens. Samples comprised of mortalities from various poultry farms operating in Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Budgam, Districts along with their adjoining areas during April 2014 to June 2015. The outbreaks suspected for Pulmonary hypertension syndrome in broiler chicken were identified on the basis of presence of ascites or right ventricular hypertrophy i.e. right ventricle vs total ventricular weight ratio >0.3. Case prevalence of uncomplicated and complicated PHS; and proportionate mortalities were worked out as a function of the total number of necropsies performed and PHS cases, respectively, for a given age group in a particular season, for a given age group, and for a given season. Effect of housing, biosecurity, commercial feed brands and chick strain was also investigated. The overall case prevalence of PHS was 8.70% with 71.71% uncomplicated and 28.29% complicated including concurrent colibacillosis (12.35%), IBD (14.99%) and coccidiosis (0.95%). Farm level incidence in the spring was 1.52 ± 0.216% (0.00-6.00%). Occurrence varied significantly between age groups and seasons but not with the commercial chick strains or feed brands. Poor ventilation and farm-level biosecurity were major epidemiological factors for diseases and PHS.