Authors : Mekonnen Girma, Mahendra Pal, Tadelle Dessie, Wondmeneh Esatu, Wondu Mamo and Simenew Keskes
Abstract: A cross sectional study was conducted on 384 chicken raised under traditional management system in four villages of Bishoftu area using Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test for the detection of antibodies against Newcastle Disease (ND) virus in serum samples collected from chickens with no history of vaccination and apparently healthy during December 2011 to April 2012. An overall sero-positive rate of 23.4% was recorded in this study. The differences in sero-prevalence however, were not significant (p>0.05) among village, sex, age, flock size, feeding system, source of chicken and contact with wild birds. However, housing system had a significant difference (p<0.05) on sero-prevalence rate of the disease. The fact that most of the chicken originated from village had low HI titer (about 54.4%, ≤2 log2) warrant the need to systematic consideration for disease prevention strategy in the village chicken. Detailed further study on ND virus strain identification, a survey of major poultry diseases and improved management packages should be devised.
Mekonnen Girma, Mahendra Pal, Tadelle Dessie, Wondmeneh Esatu, Wondu Mamo and Simenew Keskes, 2013. Sero-Prevalence of Newcastle Disease in Poultry under Backyard System in Villages of Bishoftu Town, Ethiopia. Research Journal of Poultry Sciences, 6: 38-42.