Lyophilization stabilizes the biological materials by using two overlapping drying procedure i.e. primary drying by sublimation of the ice crystal from frozen material and secondary drying or desorption by evaporation of the free water adsorbed into the dried product. Three different stabilizers i.e. lactalbumin hydrolysate-sucrose, Weybridge medium and lactalbumin hydrolysate-manitol were used to lyophilize the Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccine. Titre of live-attenuated PPR cell culture experimental vaccine was studied after lyophilization which revealed that PPR vaccine lyophilized with Weybridge medium was more stable and maintained the virus titre longer than rest of stabilizers used in the study.

Key words: Peste des petits ruminants, vaccine, lyophilization.