Round Heart Disease in Four Commercial Strains of Turkeys

INTRODUCTION ALTHOUGH the existence of a disease in turkey poults termed round heart (R.H.) has been known for several years, the causative factors and the incidence in the field are unknown. In 1962 Magwood and Bray reported on the incidence of this disease in two experimental flocks. To our knowledge the only report on the incidence in the field is that of Myhers and Heppner (1964). Since that time detailed studies have been reported by Jordan et al. (1968), Sautter et al. (1968) and Hunsaker et al. (1971). A number of turkey poults were obtained from a commercial breeder for study in our laboratory. About 16% of these had enlarged hearts and other symptoms characteristic of round heart disease. It seemed, therefore, that an estimate of the incidence in commercial flocks would be of some value. A survey of this kind would also provide an opportunity to assess, with a…