Source: MEATINGPLACE, 1/29/14

USDA researchers have developed a vaccination system for newborn chicks using feed that they say is more effective than the traditional sprayer method.

Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md., put low doses of live Eimeria oocysts inside gelatin beads that the day-old chick readily ate.

Traditional poultry vaccine methods involve using an electronic sprayer on chicks in trays on a conveyor. In this approach, some chicks may be missed and consequently have little defense against disease, the researchers said.

When they evaluated the effectiveness of the gelatin bead vaccine in broilers, they found the chicks fed the gelatin beads had a vaccine uptake 10- to 100-fold greater than the spray-vaccine group. Also, birds that consumed vaccine beads displayed higher and more uniform protection against the disease coccidiosis than spray-vaccinated birds.

In another experiment, chicks vaccinated with the gelatin beads and later given a dose of Eimeria oocysts had greater weight gains than an unvaccinated group and were more capable of converting feed into body mass.

The USDA scientists collaborated with researchers at the nonprofit Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The researchers have filed a patent application for the method and are working on a gelatin bead vaccine delivery device for commercial poultry houses.

More information about the vaccine system can be found in the January 2014 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

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