The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in broilers
and their distribution in the indoor and outdoor farm environment. Nine hundred samples (400 faecal;
300 indoor environment; 200 outdoor environment), were collected from 10 individual broiler houses
on 10 farms. Campylobacter jejuni prevalence was significantly higher (P = 0.003) in faeces (29.5%; 118/
400) than the environment (0.8%; 4/500) in contrast to Salmonella Typhimurium from faecal (8.8%; 35/
400) and environmental (8.4%; n = 42/500) sources (P = 0.217). S. Typhimurium predominantly exhibited
antimicrobial resistance (AR) to streptomycin (46%) and tetracycline (31.5%). C. jejuni isolates exhibited
AR only to tetracycline (55.5%). The PFGE profile revealed 100% similarity between S. Typhimurium isolates
from faecal and environmental sources. No relationship was detected between C. jejuni isolates. The
low prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in the outdoor environment indicates that it may not be
a significant reservoir for transmission of these pathogens on broiler farms