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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Warmwater Aquaculture Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318640
Title: Vaccination of full-sib channel catfish families against enteric septicemia of catfish with an oral live attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine

Author
item Peterson, Brian
item Flora, Corrin
item Wood, Monica
item Bosworth, Brian
item Quiniou, Sylvie
item GREENWAY, TERRENCE - Mississippi State University
item BYERS, TODD - Mississippi State University
item WISE, DAVID - Mississippi State University

Submitted to: Journal of the World Aquaculture Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/23/2015
Publication Date: 3/21/2016
Citation: Peterson, B.C., Flora, C.L., Wood, M.L., Bosworth, B.G., Quiniou, S., Greenway, T.E., Byers, T.S., Wise, D.J. 2016. Vaccination of full-sib channel catfish families against enteric septicemia of catfish with an oral live attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 47:207-211.

Interpretive Summary: The study evaluated the efficacy of an oral live-attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine against enteric septicemia of catfish in 20 full-sib fingerling channel catfish families. Each family was split into vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. The vaccine was delivered orally by feeding fish diet coated with an attenuated E. ictaluri isolate. Sixty nine days post vaccination, control and vaccinated fish were challenged with virulent E. ictaluri and mortality was examined for 21 days post-challenge. Vaccinated fish had significantly lower mortality than non-vaccinated fish following challenge. Mortality of vaccinated fish was 1.7% as opposed to 47.8% in non-vaccinated fish. Relative percent survival ranged from 87.7 to 100% with an average of 95.2% among the 20 families of fish. There were significant differences in mortality among families in non-vaccinated fish while there were no differences among vaccinated families of fish. Results indicate that the live attenuated E. ictaluri vaccine is effective at reducing mortality in channel catfish exposed to virulent E. ictaluri. This data demonstrates that genetic differences among healthy populations of fish is not a major consideration in developing an effective vaccination program utilizing the oral vaccination platform described in this study.

Technical Abstract: The study evaluated the efficacy of an oral live-attenuated Edwardsiella ictaluri vaccine against enteric septicemia of catfish in 20 full-sib fingerling channel catfish families. Each family was split into vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. The vaccine was delivered orally by feeding fish diet coated with an attenuated E. ictaluri isolate. Sixty nine days post vaccination, control and vaccinated fish were challenged with virulent E. ictaluri and mortality was examined for 21 days post-challenge. Vaccinated fish had significantly lower mortality than non-vaccinated fish following challenge (P < 0.001). Mortality of vaccinated fish was 1.7 ±1.4% as opposed to 47.8 ±28.7% in non-vaccinated fish. Relative percent survival ranged from 87.7 to 100% with an average of 95.2 ±4.0% (±SE) among the 20 families of fish. There were significant differences in mortality among families in non-vaccinated fish (P < 0.01) while there were no differences among vaccinated families of fish. Results indicate that the live attenuated E. ictaluri vaccine is effective at reducing mortality in channel catfish exposed to virulent E. ictaluri. This data demonstrates that genetic differences among healthy populations of fish is not a major consideration in developing an effective vaccination program utilizing the oral vaccination platform described in this study.