Sero-prevalence of Infectious Bronchitis Virus in Some Broiler Farms of Diyala Governorate

Abstract

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a gamma coronavirus that causes a highly infectious illness in broiler and layer hens. The goal of this study was to use serological detection by the ELISA technique to determine the sero-prevalence of IBV in several commercial broiler flock farms in Diyala Governorate. Blood samples were collected from 324 broiler chickens before vaccination at the age of three days, after vaccination at the age of sixteen days, and during the infection period at the age of twenty-three days. These blood samples were taken from six commercial broiler farms in the Diyala Governorate area, namely (Baqoubah, Kanaan, Baladroze, Almoqdadia, Alkhalis, and Alwajehia) in diverse places, and the serum was separated as normal. All serum samples were tested using a Zoetis diagnostic kit for indirect ELISA (USA). The findings of this study revealed that the positive rate of anti-IBV IgG in all six groups at 3 years of age as a maternally derived antibody (MDA) was substantially greater than at other times. The Ab titers at 16 days of age for the same above-mentioned groups were found to be (1044.2778 ± 249.95382, 761.4444±182.60843, 2380.3889± 1190.8333±200.12109, 1373.4444±183.23802 and 728.6111±101.57859) respectively and were significantly lower compared to other point’s time with a statistically significant difference (P≤0.05). The mean titer at 23 days (11488.153 ± 2376.1111, 14008.657 ± 3103.2312, 12527.342 ± 6164.3434, 15709.5563 ± 3589.3356, 11328.6732 ± 3436.5900, and 13744.6754 ± 1305.6578) respectively and were all flocks considered infected as the titers were higher than those of day 16 of ages and according to the instructions of the manual kit of ELISA in six different regions of Diyala Governorate. Because of the failure of vaccination programs against the disease, the current study found that IBV was the most prevalent and widespread disease in broiler chicken farms, particularly at 3 weeks of age. Accordingly, continuous production of new vaccines from local strains is critical to control IBV. The goal of this study is to gather additional information on IBV infections in poultry farms that are linked to circulating IBV or might be caused by novel strains or variations of the virus.