farmers employing around 500,000 people (Kaci and Cheriet 2013). Between 2000 and 2012, Batna region was the country's leading producer of table eggs (DSA 2015). However, this animal sector is faced with many problems such as increasing the price of raw materials (corn, soybeans) and the frequent appearance of infectious diseases (Alloui and Ayachi 2012; Barberis et al. al 2018). The spread of these diseases may be due to poor biosecurity. This requires further investigation to determine the

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... ses and risk factors that cause the frequent occurrence of these diseases (Al Saffar et al 2006) . In Algeria, a health charter for breeding practices is applied, drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture. This charter was designed to harmonize the different stages of raising chickens, layers, turkeys, and other species of poultry. All ABSTRACT The Biocheck.UGent scoring system was developed to measure and quantify the level of biosecurity in animal husbandry. This tool is composed of all the relevant elements of biosecurity in poultry farms (broilers and laying hens) and is subdivided into external and internal biosecurity. The peculiarity of this scoring system is that it takes into account the relative importance of the different aspects of biosecurity, resulting in a risk-weighted score. The biosecurity scores obtained are provided immediately after completing the questionnaire and the scores for each sub-category can be compared to global averages to allow the poultry farmer to compare the results obtained and correct any anomalies that are on their farm. In Algeria, preliminary results from a survey in poultry houses of 30.000 laying hens show a wide range of biosecurity levels on that farm, with internal biosecurity scores ranging from 6 to 72% and external biosecurity scores ranging from 28 to 92% in the subgroups. The overall scores were 50% and 54%, respectively. These early results show that despite the well-known importance of biosecurity, there is a lack of implementation of many biosecurity measures.