SEROPREVALENCE AND POLYPEPTIDE ANALYSIS OF INFECTIOUS BRONCHITIS VIRUS IN BROILERS

I. Hussain, A.  Shaukat, A. Khan¹, M. Khalid and T. Hamid 

 Department of Veterinary Microbiology, ¹Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan

Abstract 

    A total of 360 trachea, kidneys and serum samples were collected from 21 broiler poultry farms having no history of vaccination against infectious bronchitis (IB).  The agar gel precipitation and trypsin induced haemagglutination inhibition tests revealed 2.22% seroprevalence of IB. Data analysis revealed significantly (P<0.031) higher IB seroprevalence in 1-2 weeks old broilers (5.36%), while the lowest prevalence was found in the older birds. After purification, IB virus was analyzed for polypeptides applying SDS-PAGE. The indigenous IB virus consisted of six major polypeptides with molecular weights of 84, 51, 36, 31, 28 and 23 kDa.