author(s)
C Soundararajan, KP Prabhu, M Arul Prakash, R Divisha and Serma Saravana Pandian

abstract
Poultry fleas are known to cause severe irritation, anemia, blindness and death in chicken. A total of 2580 country chicken (Aseel) from 12 villages of six districts and three agro-climatic zones in Tamil Nadu, India were examined for flea infestation from April 2019 to March 2020. The collected fleas were identified as Echidnophaga gallinacea. The overall prevalence of flea infestation in country chicken was 25.54% with western zone alone having 40.80% which was significantly (P< 0.01) higher than the north eastern and hill zones. The infestation was comparatively more in adult birds than chicks. Three different preparations were used to control the fleas in country chicken: a 1% Deltamethrin solution, ground Acorus calamus (Vasambu) powder made into a paste with coconut oil and Psidium guajava (common guava) leaf extracts. The preparations deltamethrin, vasambu paste and guava leaf extracts controlled flea infestation in the chicken after 2^nd, 4^th and 5^th day of application, respectively.