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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Poultry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #346340
Research Project: Enhancing Sustainability and Production Efficiency through Improved Management and Housing Design in Commercial Broilers

Location: Poultry Research

Title: Performance of an automated whole-house spray vaccination system

Author
item Purswell, Joseph - Jody
item Branton, Scott
item Evans, Jeffrey - Jeff

Submitted to: Avian Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2018
Publication Date: 1/15/2019
Citation: Purswell, J.L., Branton, S.L., Evans, J.D. 2019. Performance of an automated whole-house spray vaccination system. Avian Diseases. 28(1):215-220. https://doi.org/10.3382/japr/pfy060.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3382/japr/pfy060

Interpretive Summary: Recent catastrophic disease events have highlighted the need for improved disease prevention measures in commercial poultry operations. Improved biosecurity and vaccination programs can aid in reducing animal population and economic losses. Performance of a prototype automated whole-house spray vaccination system was evaluated over three flocks in a commercial breeder pullet house. Birds were spray vaccinated for Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) and Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) using the automated system in one house and with a typical backpack blower-based sprayer in another house for comparison. Results showed that the automated system improved both positive vaccination rates and bird response to vaccination as compared to the backpack spray crew. Bird response for both IBV and NDV were more than doubled (2.4x and 8.6x, respectively); positive vaccination rates were also significantly improved for IBV (69.4 vs 39.8%) and NDV (69.6 vs 17.6%). Adoption of an automated whole-house spray vaccination system may provide significantly improved protection for loose-housed poultry when compared to backpack sprayers while improving biosecurity through minimizing human-to-bird contact.

Technical Abstract: Recent catastrophic disease events have highlighted the need for improved disease prevention measures. Improved biosecurity and vaccination programs can aid in reducing animal population and economic losses. Performance of a prototype automated whole-house spray vaccination system was evaluated over three flocks in a commercial breeder pullet house. Birds were spray vaccinated for Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) and Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) using the automated system in one house and with a typical backpack blower-based sprayer in another house for comparison. Results showed that the automated system improved both seroconversion and geometric mean titer (GMT) as compared to the backpack spray crew. Mean GMT for both IBV and NDV were more than doubled (2.4x and 8.6x, respectively); seroconversions were also significantly improved for IBV (69.4 vs 39.8%) and NDV (69.6 vs 17.6%). Adoption of an automated whole-house spray vaccination system may provide significantly improved protection for loose-housed poultry when compared to backpack sprayers while improving biosecurity through minimizing human-to-bird contact.