HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSE TO FOWL CHOLERA VACCINE IN DIFFERENT BREEDS OF COMMERCIAL BIRDS

Abstract

Fowl cholera is a highly contagious and economically important disease of poultry worldwide. Control of fowl cholera depends mainly on vaccination throughout the world including Bangladesh. Therefore, the objective of the study was to determine the antibody titre following vaccination with fowl cholera vaccine in different breeds of commercial birds including Aseel and its F1 crosses. The study was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural University Poultry Farm during the period from March to December 2011. A total of 37 birds of four types of breeds (Synthetic - 10, White Rock - 10, Aseel - 7 and Aseel×Rhode Island Red - 10) of both sex and 17 weeks old were used in this trial. Primary and booster vaccination were done in all the birds of four groups with fowl cholera vaccine (BAU-FCV) @ 0.5 ml/bird IM at 20 weeks and 26 weeks of age, respectively. Blood samples were collected at different occasions of vaccination. The immune responses (serum antibody titre) were determined by using passive haemagglutination assay (PHA). All the four groups of vaccinated birds induced significantly higher humoral immune response after primary and booster vaccination. However, no significant differences were observed in antibody titres between breeds on different occasions of vaccination. Of the four groups, antibody titres were slightly higher in breeds of Aseel×RIR and White Rock birds than other two breeds. It appears from the study that breed variation has no significant effect on immune response to fowl cholera vaccine.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v9i2.13453