Field Evaluation of Immunogenicity of Five Commercial Vaccines Against Newcastle Disease in Poultry Farms in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate immunogenicity of five commonly used vaccines for prevention of Newcastle disease (ND) in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty (220) blood samples were collected from apparently healthy vaccinated chickenin 8 poultry farms in suburbs of the city. An average of 27 samples was collected from each farm.Blood samples were collected from a total of 72 breeders 88 layers and 60 pullets. Sera were testedusing heamagglutination inhibition (HI) techniquet to determineantibody levels against ND after vaccination with a commercial ND vaccine. Geometric mean titre (GMT) of antibodies against ND were calculated among flocks. The resultsindicated significant (p<0.05) difference between the vaccines used. Highest level of immunity was confered by an imported LaSota vaccine (VAC 2),while lowest immunity was confered by another imported LaSota vaccine (VAC 1).The present findings indicate that some imported ND vaccines may effectively serve as alternative to the locally produced vaccines. Routine sero-monitoring ofpoultry response to ND vaccinesis advocated to enable farmers monitor immune profile of their flocks may contribute to more effective and efficient control of ND and ensure economic performance of farms. This facility could be part of the services in State Veterinary Laboratories in Nigeria.

Keywords: Hemaglutination-inhibition test, Newcastle disease, seromonitoring, vaccine efficacy

Nigerian Veterinary Journal, VOL:33 (2) 475-482