Abstract
Background Newcastle disease (ND) is a major infectious disease of poultry caused by a virulent strain of Avian Paramyxovirus – 1. It is a major threat to the poultry industry in many countries of the world including Ethiopia. Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) is an enveloped, non-segmented, single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus with a helical morphology whose genome has six open reading frames (ORF) which encode for the following proteins: nucleoprotein (NP), phosphoprotein (P), matrix protein (M), fusion protein (F), hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L). The aim of this study was to detect matrix gene (M-gene), for NDV by molecular tools and identify its risk factors in non-vaccinated village chicken in Central Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia.Methods A total of 84 pooled in five swab samples from 420 cloacal and tracheal chickens were sampled and RNA was extracted from the 84 pooled samples to carry out real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) along with the quantification was also done for 10 positive qRT-PCR samples that were having high concentration of viral load Ct. value.Results Out of the 84 pools of five swab samples tested for M-gene using qRT-PCR, 16.7% (14/84) samples were detected which included 13 positives and 1 negative for NDV. The prevalence of ND in males was found to be 16.10% and that in females was 14.67%. Although the overall ND prevalence was 15.48% (13/84), the highest score was recorded in Adama, 42.86% (6/14), and no positive case was detected in Bote and Bishoftu (p <0.05) while intermediate scores were obtained from Batu, Arsi-negelle and Shashemene.Conclusions In general, the present study provides important information on the epidemiology of NDV based on M-gene assay in Central Rift Valley of Oromia, Ethiopia, and highlights the importance of implementing surveillances and biosecurity practices in live poultry markets and village chickens.
Vaccination of village chickens in The Gambia against Newcastle disease using the heat‐resistant, food‐pelleted V4vaccine