A Field Study of Naturally Occurring Specific Antibodies against Clostridium perfringens Alpha Toxin in Norwegian Broiler Flocks

• DOI: 10.2307/1592919
• Publication Date: 2006-05-10T05:11:46Z
• Authors: B. T. Heier; A. Lovland; K. B. Soleim; M. Kaldhusal; J. Jarp
• Keywords: Flock; Clostridium perfringens; Passive immunity; Antibody titer

Necrotic enteritis (NE), a disease associated with high numbers of the intestinal bacterium Clostridium perfringens, is common in intensive broiler production. Antimicrobial feed additives may control disease, but their use now being questioned many countries. A field study was undertaken at end 1997 to level naturally occurring specific humoral immunity against phospholipase C (PLC; perfringens alpha toxin) Norwegian flocks. Blood samples were collected hatch from 61 flocks, and sampling repeated for 56 same flocks processing. The antibodies PLC analyzed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. Data on production performance weekly mortality recorded. relationship between age hens maternal progenies studied. association performance, including mortality, analyzed. day-old relatively varied considerably compared levels broilers oldest had significantly higher than chicks younger hens. No outbreak NE occurred during period, making it impossible analyze occurrence disease. However, results showed that titers lower period low titers.