COMPARISON OF THE LABELED AVIDIN-BIOTIN AND THE CONVENTIONAL ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY FOR DETECTING ANTIBODY TO REOVIRUS IN CHICKENS

A labeled avidin-biotin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (LAB-ELISA) for detecting antibodies to avian reovirus (ARV) in chicken sera was d eveloped and compared with conventional ELISA. Purified ARV, biotin-la beled rabbit anti-chicken IgG conjugate, and horseradish peroxidase-la beled avidin were used in the LAB-ELISA. The two types of ELISA had th e similar ability to clearly distinguish ARV-positive and -negative se ra. Furthermore, non-specific reactions with the two ELISAs against se ra from ARV-negative chickens were reduced markedly. When sera from fa rm chickens were tested by the two ELISAs and serum neutralization (SN ), the correlation. rates between SN and conventional ELISA, and SN an d LAB-ELISA were similar and were 93.4% and 92.3%, respectively.