Effects of Vitamin – Mineral Supplement on the Immune Response of Broilers to Newcastle Disease Vaccination

To study effects of vitamins-minerals (VMS) supplementation on immune response of chicks to Newcastle disease vaccination (NDVLaSota), one hundred broiler chicks were assigned to 4 treatment groups of 25 each. One group was given VMS before the vaccination. Another group was given the supplementation after the vaccination. A third group was given the VMS before and after the vaccination while the fourth group served as vaccinated control. Administration of VMS was in each case, through drinking water. Five randomly selected chicks from each group were bled for sera, used for haemagglutination inhibition (HI)-NDV antibodies test. Three weeks post vaccination, mean NDV antibody titre (1.87±0.18) in chicks given VMS before and after the vaccination was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than 1.39±0.12 of the control but it did not vary (P > 0.05) from 1.81 0.17 and 1.74±0.06, respectively of groups that received the supplementation only before and only after vaccination.


INTRODUCTION
Newcastle Disease (ND) is a viral disease of poultry that is deadly and spreads rapidly among chickens and other domestic and semi -domestic species of birds (Monoura et al., 2008).Among the diseases of poultry, ND is rated as the most common disease of local chickens (Sa'idu et al., 1994).The high mortality and morbidity associated with ND are major hindrances to development of the poultry industry in developing countries (Bell, 1990;Chabauf, 1990).
To control Newcastle Disease (ND) strong prophylactic measures such as routine vaccinations in combination with maintenance of strict hygienic and sanitary conditions in the urban area of many developed countries of the world are required (Monoura et al., 2008) Considering the above factors, the present study was undertaken with a view to evaluating the immune response of broiler chicks vaccinated with LaSota vaccine, when the drinking water of the bird is fortified with multivitamin -mineral supplement before or after vaccination and before and after vaccination respectively.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred day old broiler chicks were obtained and randomly assigned to four (4) groups of 25 chicks each.The experimental groups were designated A, B, C and D. Groups A, B and C were given vitaminmineral supplement (VMS) while Group D served as the control group.Feed (commercial feed) and water were given ad libitum to the birds.
The vitamin -mineral supplement used, ('Vitalyte), contained; Vitamins A, D3, E, K, B2, B6, B12, C, Nicotinamide, Calcium Panthotenate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Sulphate, NaCl, MgSO4, Cu2SO4, ZnSO4, Manganese, Lysine hydrochloride and Methionine (Anglian Nutrition Products Co. UK).The groups which received the VMS in their drinking water received it as follows:  Group A chicks were given the VMS only for 7 days before vaccination  Group B chicks received the VMS only for 7 days after vaccination  Group C chicks received VMS both 7 days before and 7 days after vaccination  Group D had only vaccination but no VMS-medication. .The VMS was added to the chicks` drinking water at the rate of 10 grams to 2 litres.All the chicks were vaccinated against ND on the 8 th day of life with Hitchner B1 and on the 21 st day of life with NDV (LaSota).A 200-dose vial of LaSota was reconstituted in 2000 mL of drinking water and each group of 25 broilers was administered with 250 mL of the reconstituted vaccine.
Blood samples were collected from the chicks through their jugular vein at 2 weeks and at 3 weeks post LaSota vaccination and the sera were used for haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test as described by OIE (2000), to determine immune response of the broilers to the vaccination.The HI titres were transformed to Log10 and the results statistically analyzed using ANOVA in SPSS (Version 12.0)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The group given multi-vitamin supplements (VMS) before and after LaSota vaccination maintained high antibody titre throughout the period of the study (Table 1).At week 2 post vaccination (PV) the log transformed HI titres of group C also, had the highest value though it showed no significant difference (P>0.05) when compared to the other groups.
At week 2, titre of the group C was significantly higher (P<0.05)than those of the other groups with the Log transformed value of 1.87 compared to 1.81, 1.74 and 1.39 for groups A, B and D respectively.Sustenance of high titres by group C (with VMS supplementation before and after vaccination) suggests that VMS needs to be given to chicks before and after vaccination.Rao et al. (2004) reported that vitamins and minerals are important in developing immunity.Rao et al. (2004) further explained that higher levels of vitamins than the current recommendations of NRC will increase the immune response.

McDonald et al. (1998) and
The cumulative effect of the vitaminmineral supplement before and after vaccination in Group C might be responsible for its higher significant value (P < 0.05) above the control group D and its maintenance of higher titres than the other vitamin -mineral supplemented groups.The immunity of the experimental groups remained high while that of the control group waned rapidly suggesting that vitamin -mineral supplements sustained the immunity of the vaccinated birds.