Thirty blood samples were collected randomly from each of the 38 breeder-broiler farms in Jordan. Serum samples were examined using indirect ELISA for specific antibodies to avian influenza virus. The overall true flock-level sero-prevalence of avian influenza was 71% (95% CI: 55,83). Positive flocks had 2-30 sero-positive chickens and half of flocks had >20 sero-positive birds. The number of s...

An attempt was made to standardize an in-house immuno-enzyme assay for measuring antibodies of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) in chicken. The test was performed after coating plates with ELISA antigens prepared by two methods. Antigen “A” was prepared from infectious bursal disease virus infected chicken embryo fibroblasts culture by concentration with dialysis against PEG-6000 while an...

A total of 1 200 broiler breeder eggs were collected from a commercial flock at the hen age of 37 weeks and divided into storage treatments of 5 and 15 days. Prior to storage, the eggs were further divided into pre-storage incubation (PRESI) 0 (control), 4 and 8 h treatments. Eggs in the 4 and 8 h PRESI treatment were incubated at a standard dry-bulb temperature of 38.0°C. All eggs were weighed...

Broiler hatching eggs from two young (30 and 31 wk) or two old (52 and 53 wk) breeder flocks were stored for 3, 7, or 14 d at 18 C and 75% RH while being turned 0, 4, or 24 times per day in two experiments. Apparent fertility and hatchability of total eggs differed with flock age in both experiments, but the effect was greater in Experiment 1. Hatchability of total and fertile eggs were decreas...

Effects of low-density broiler breeder diets on offspring performance and mortality were studied using 2,100 female and 210 male Cobb 500 breeders. Breeder treatments involved 4 experimental groups and a control group with normal density diets (ND, 2,600 kcal of AME/kg during rearing and 2,800 kcal of AME/kg during laying). In treatment 2, nutrient densities were decreased by 12% (LD12) and 11%...

This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term effects of in ovo injection of nano-silver, thyme and savory extracts in broiler breeder eggs on growth performance, lymphoid organ weights, immune and blood parameters and bone mineral concentration of broiler chicks. A total of 560 fertilized broiler breeder eggs were divided into 7 groups. On d 5 of incubation, eggs were treated with the fol...

Metabolic, immune, and physical status of chicks can impact the incidence of morbidity and mortality of broilers during the first week of production. Assessments of chick quality are made primarily by subjective observations with few quantitative measurements. Given a better understanding of how broiler breeder hen age and nutrient intake may influence progeny physiology, certain actions can be...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess whether broiler breeders vaccinated in ovo with a Vaxxitek (HVT&IBD) (Merial) plus an inactivated IBD vaccine prior to the onset of lay had a significantly different humoral IBD antibody response to broiler breeders vaccinated solely with Vaxxitek (HVT&IBD) (Merial) in ovo. In addition, maternally derived antibody (MDA) passed to the progeny of...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to characterize sets of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae collected longitudinally from different flocks of broiler breeders, meconium of 1-day-old broilers from theses breeder flocks, as well as from these broiler flocks before slaughter. METHODS Five sets of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli were studied by multi-locus ...