Effect of Route of Administration on Immune Response of Broiler Chicks to Newcastle Disease Vaccine (LaSota)

Aims: This work was undertaken to study the immune response of broiler chicks to LaSota vaccine by using different routes of administration.

Study Design: The design used was a completely randomized design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Poultry Unit of the Kogi State University Teaching and Research Farm Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria. It lasted for 5 weeks.

Methodology: One hundred day old broiler chicks were grouped into 4 of 25 chicks each (A, B, C and D). In the 3rd week of life, the groups were vaccinated with LaSota by intraocular (i/o), intramuscular (i/m) and oral (per os) routes respectively while Group D served as the unvaccinated control group. Five chicks from each group were randomly selected and bled at 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks post LaSota vaccination. Their sera were used for Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test.

Results: All the routes used produced high levels of Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) antibody titres two weeks post vaccination. Immunity fell below protective level after 5 weeks post vaccination

Conclusion: All the routes in this study were immunogenic and vaccination failure may not necessarily be due to the route of administration of vaccine.