A COMPARATIVE-STUDY ON THE PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS CHICKENS AGAINST NEWCASTLE-DISEASE INDUCED BY AUSTRALIAN NDV(4)HR AND LOCALLY PRODUCED CONVENTIONAL VACCINES IN BANGLADESH

Protection of indigenous chickens with Newcastle disease heat resistan t V-4(NDV(4)HR) vaccine was compared with that of the BCRDV (Lentogeni c 'F' strain) and RDV (Mukteswar 'M' strain) vaccines of Bangladesh. O f the nine groups of chickens, two groups were vaccinated with convent ional vaccines (BCRDV and RDV), six groups with NDV(4)HR vaccine and o ne group was kept as a control. Blood sera were collected at different intervals from all the experimental chickens and tested by haemagglut ination inhibition test. The challenge test demonstrated that the conv entional vaccines apparently conferred higher protection to birds (93- 94%) than the NDV(4)HR vaccine that provided 67-88% protection. NDV(4) HR vaccine administered by drinking water and ocular methods provided better protection (86-88%) then any other routes of inoculation and se emed to be the most effective route of vaccination. The findings of th e present study indicate that delivering of NDV(4)HR vaccine on feed ( parboiled rice, ground wheat, drinking water and ocular route) could p rovide a practical method of protecting indigenous chickens against Ne wcastle disease in rural Bangladesh.