In vitro Studies of Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies Generated Against Salmonella pullorum

The present investigation is focused to generate chicken Egg yolk antibodies against Salmonella pullorum and their in-vitro characterization. Pullorum disease is leading cause of morbidity and mortality in poultry and highly responsible for significant economic loss. Mortality in such outbreaks may approach 90% if untreated. Treatment primarily is a salvage operation and does not prevent from becoming a carrier. Therefore, the prevention of this disease in breeder level through vaccination is more convenient for the control of vertical transmission. One of the recent researches has revealed that the combination of IBDV vaccine and chicken IgY generated against IBDV was superior in preventing IBDV infection in Broiler chickens rather than using them alone. Based on this recent finding, the chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) raised against Salmonella pullorum. IgY antibodies were purified by (Polson et al., 1980) method and Water dilution method followed by DEAE cellulose ion exchange column chromatography. The total IgY concentration was relatively constant, average IgY concentration was 6.62 mg/mL during the immunization period. Titre of IgY antibodies was 1:10000 on 120th day after first immunization determined by ELISA. The agglutination was observed in both Rapid Slide Agglutination and Micro-titre plate (up to 1:2048 dilutions). It indicated the presence of IgY against S. pullorum. Present study concluded that the generated IgY was specific against S. pullorum whole cell antigen and it could effectively bind with that. The raised antibodies could be used for the passive immunotherapy to protect the young chicks from horizontal transmission of Pullorum disease by improving the immunological strength against infectious disease.