Comparative Immunogenicity Evaluation of Two Infectious Bursal Disease Vaccines Commonly Used in Broiler Chickens in Ethiopia

Purpose: Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is one of the most endemic diseases of commercial poultry in Ethiopia. Vaccination is used as the major means of IBD prevention and control. A study was conducted to compare the immunogenicity of two commercially available IBD vaccines in broiler chicken with maternally derived antibody (MDA). Methods: A total of 270 day-one-old chicks were randomly assigned to three groups, group 1 vaccinated with product A vaccine at the age of 7 and 19 days and group 2 with product B vaccine on day 15 and 22 while group 3 were kept as control. Six chickens were also randomly selected and bled on day 1 for differential leukocyte count (DLC) and determination of MDA. Representative chickens from each group were bled at 24th and 42nd days of age for antibody titration using the indirect ELISA test. DLC scores were determined in the 1st and 24th days. Results: The result revealed highly significant differences (P = 0.001) between group 1 and group 2 in DLC at 24th days of age. Antibody titers against IBD were differed significantly (P = 0.02) at 24th and 42nd days of age in broilers vaccinated with product A and product B vaccines. Conclusion: Both vaccines have induced an adequate immunological response at the end of the experiment; however, product A has shown significantly higher antibody titers against the IBDV and DLC than product B.