Abstract

Thirty three years ago in ovo vaccination was a new idea being tested in research laboratories of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).In 1982 Sharma and Burmester introduced in ovo vaccination by demonstrating its effectiveness to protect against Marek’s disease virus? In the last few years, in ovo technology has been extended for other vaccines, including live and recombinant vaccines, and efforts to extend it for other viral, bacterial and coccidiosis vaccines are in progress.Currently, over 80% of US broilers are immunized in ovo with MD vaccine . In ovo vaccination is also effective and used commercially to protect poultry from infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Compared with field vaccination, in ovo vaccination using automated injection machine provides uniform and fast delivery (up to 70,000 egg/h), reduced labor costs, decreased stress to the birds; and most importantly, elicits early immune responses, as soon as 2-week post hatching. From practical and commercial perspectives, in ovo vaccination not only has been effective in providing protection but also has cheaper costs per birds vaccinated. Currently the popularity of the in ovo vaccination machine is spreading world wide including in Latin America and Europe. Exciting prospects for disease control and hatchery automation are on the horizon. In the near future it is likely that the technology will include diagnostic capabilities such as determining the sex of the embryo prior to hatch. Commercial chicken farms are rapidly growing in Ethiopia. The chicken types are increase temperate breeds that are less adapted to the environment and diseases challenges in the country. Accompanying intensification of poultry farming is the occurrence of epidemics of newly introduced diseases and/or epidemic occurrence of the previously endemic diseases. An outbreak of infectious bursal disease (IBD), accompanied by high mortality and morbidity was immerged since 2002 in commercial poultry farms around Addis Ababa and DebreZeit.Marek’s disease has also been well recognized in the poultry industry since its first confirmation in the late 1990s.

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