Molecular detection of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale in quails of Isfahan province

Abstract

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) infection is a common respiratory infection in growing chickens that mainly plays a role in complexing other respiratory pathogens. For detection of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale in quails of Isfahan province, 60 tracheal samples from 20 quail farms with respiratory signs and 60 tracheal samples from 20 apparently healthy quail farms were collected along with history recording. After DNA extraction from tracheal tissues, the 16srRNA gene from ORT was amplified by ORT specific primers. The electrophoresis of PCR product showed that a 784bp fragment of 16srRNA gene was amplified in 18 samples from quails with respiratory signs (30%) and 4 samples from apparently healthy quails (6.66%) as positive control. Also 7 of the 20 farms with respiratory signs (35%) and 3 of the apparently healthy farms (15%) were infected by ORT. By considering the results of this study, it can be stated that infection by ORT in quail farms with respiratory signs and in apparently healthy farms is common in Isfahan province and therefore it is necessary to approve the pathogenicity of ORT and apply suitable vaccination against ORT in quail breeder farms to induce immunity in meat type quails.

Keywords

• Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale
• Quail
• Isfahan