A Pilot Study on effects of vaccination on immunity of broiler chickens

Abstract

A pilot study was carried out with the aim of highlighting the effects of NDV vaccine on the immune responses of broiler chickens challenged with NDV. Twenty (20) broilers of day-old were used for the study. They were grouped into five of four per group. During the study they were fed with standard feeds and clean water ad libitum. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated groups were challenged with 0.2 saline suspension of 10⁶ ELD₅₀ intradermal inoculation of NDV challenged strain. The vaccinated groups showed neither clinical signs nor symptoms of NDV infections while unvaccinated group showed 100% mortality after 48hr. This result indicate that vaccines is still very important in the prevention, management and control of poultry diseases as maternal immunity passed on to the young chicks at precocial stage could not be relied on to fight against infectious disease in broiler chickens. Therefore, the use of locally produced vaccines should be encouraged among farmers for the prevention, control and management of outbreaks of viral infections in our community.

Key: Challenged, Poultry birds- broilers, Newcastle disease virus, Vaccination