Serological survey of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale infectious in broiler flocks of Ardabil province

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) is a gram negative, non-motile, and rod shaped bacterial pathogen causing respiratory tract disease in poultry and cause economic losses in poultry industry. The Objective of this study, was investigation of serological status of Ardabil province broiler flocks in view of ORT infection. For this purpose from 25 broiler flocks, 450 serum samples were taken in last week of age, and then investigated with IDEXX ELISA kit. Results showed that 72.2 percent (325 samples) of samples were positive to antibodies against ORT and the remaining samples 27.8 percent (125 samples) were suspicious and non of samples were negative.In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that the prevalence of ORT antibodies is high in the broiler flocks of Ardabil province. Due to the economical importance of ORT infection it might be necessary to prepare a general prevention and control plan to tackle this emerging disease.