Accepted articles-next issues

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of the age of the breeder flock of commercial BUT - 6 turkeys on the transfer of maternal antibodies to chicks. The blood samples for serological analysis were collected from randomly selected 63 female breeder from flock of BUT Big 6 turkeys and 63 one-day-old hybrid turkey poults hatched from eggs from this flock at 36, 45 and 54 week of age. During blood analysis (serum) in the laboratory, the level of antibodies of the breeder flock against Avian metapneumoviruses (APV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and Hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) was determined (ELISA). Maternal antibody (MatAb) titer in chicks (serum) against the same viruses were also determined. The percentage (%) transfer of MatAb to offspring was then evaluated. The effect of the age of the turkeys on the antibody titer to the tested pathogens expressed in geometric mean titers (GMT) was shown. During the laying period, the antibody titer of the tested turkeys against NDV decreased with the age of the flock. The highest antibody titer was demonstrated in 36wk. (GMT=14242), whereas the lowest in 54wk. (GMT=5564). In contrast, serum antibody titer of the tested layers against APV and HEV increased with the age of the birds. The lowest antibody titer (GMTAPV=24818; GMTHEV=12070) was observed at the beginning of the laying period, and the highest at the end of the laying period (GMTAPV =38978; GMTHEV =13980). The highest vertical transfer to offspring was shown for antibodies to – HEV (82.7%), while the lowest was shown when analyzing sera to -NDV (37.6%). The present analysis showed significant differences in the evaluated antibody titres in serum of turkey breeders during the laying period, as well as in the level of MatAb in chicks. The presented results also showed that the transfer of MatAb to chicks is influenced by the age of the parent flock and the type of pathogen against which the layers were vaccinated.

Respiratory diseases have a significant impact on livestock production in Pakistan, and their control is integral to a healthy livestock farm. The current study was conducted in dairy farms of Districts Kasur and Lahore, which were selected and categorized on the basis of respiratory disease outbreaks in the recent past. Nasal samples were collected from fifty suspected clinical cases of cattle from the selected ten farms which led to the identification of three major species responsible for respiratory diseases including Pasteurella multocida, Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium bovis. A multiplex PCR assay was developed to enable simultaneous identification of all the three isolated pathogens in a single reaction. For this purpose, species-specific primers against all isolates were used for assay optimization. The reference bacterial strains were obtained from Veterinary Research Institute and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore-Pakistan. DNA of the selected strains was extracted and quantified using standard protocols. Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Research (MEGA) software was used to conduct sequence alignments and phylogenetic analysis. Multiplex PCR was successfully optimized for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium bovis and Pasteurella multocida using reported primers. The success of this trial provides a cost-effective, rapid, reliable, and simple tool for the simultaneous detection of multiple respiratory bacterial pathogens which can be useful for the development of effective control strategies for bovine respiratory disease in livestock farms.