ABSTRACT
Aims@#Antibiotics are widely used in poultry industry for treatment, control and in preventing the spread of infectious diseases among chicken flocks. The uncontrolled use of antibiotic causes the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria which is a major concern worldwide. The aim of this study is to isolate and molecularly identify antibiotic resistant bacteria using raw chicken meat samples from farm, supermarket, wet market as well as free-range chicken. @*Methodology and results@#A total of 34 isolates were obtained through primary screening based on their ability to grow on streptomycin, kanamycin, ampicillin and cefazolin antibiotic plates. Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test performed on the 34 isolates showed that they were highly resistant to oxacillin (97%) and penicillin (94%) followed by ampicillin (64%), cefazolin (50%), tetracycline (32%), erythromycin (24%), ciprofloxacin (21%) and least resistance towards gentamycin (6%). Eight isolates with the highest antibiotic resistance, were selected for molecular identification using 16S rDNA sequencing. Analysis of the 16S rDNA sequence using BLASTN and phylogenetic tree constructed on the selected isolates revealed that five different species of antibiotic resistant bacteria namely Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Chryseobacterium gleum, Comamonas testosteroni and Bacillus cereus were successfully identified from the different types of chicken sample.@*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#The excessive use of antibiotic in the poultry farm industries had caused the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria which can harm the health of people consuming chicken meat. To overcome this crisis, antibiotic usage in the poultry farm industries should be regulated.