Recovery of Salmonella from alternative anatomical sites after an oral challenge with three different Salmonella serotypes in turkeys

The poultry cecum is considered the "gold standard" for detecting Salmonella in poultry because it has the largest concentration of Salmonella in the bird. The current study investigated alternative anatomical sampling locations for detecting Salmonella in preharvest turkeys. In this study, 36-day-old turkeys were challenged with a cocktail of Salmonella Heidelberg, S. Reading, and S. Infantis by oral gavage (N = 78). The birds were sampled on Day 0-, 6-, 9- and 12-days post-challenge. Across all serotypes, total Salmonella recovery from the different anatomical locations was significantly higher in samples taken from the cloaca, crop, vent feathers, and foot pad samples when compared to the cecal samples (P < 0.05). Similarly, Salmonella results for individual serotypes demonstrated a higher recovery of S. Reading and S. Infantis within the cloaca, and vent feathers samples compared to the ceca. Salmonella Heidelberg recovery was significantly higher in the joints, and bone marrow when compared to the cecal samples. Study results demonstrate that Salmonella can spread systemically in turkeys without demonstrated morbidity and can be recovered at other anatomical locations at higher rates than found in ceca. In addition, Salmonella serotypes translocated differently within the bird and can be recovered at different anatomical locations.