Vaccination of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), by immersion and oral booster against Edwardsiella ictaluri |
| |
| Authors: | J A PLUMB S VINITNANTHARAT |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures, Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University, Alabama, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Abstract. A commercially prepared vaccine against Edwardsiella ictaluri was used to vaccinate 12-day-old channel catfish fry by immersion, or by immersion plus an oral booster 2 months later. One month after the fish were fed the booster vaccine, they were challenged by waterborne exposure to 2·1 × 106 cells ml?1 of E. ictaluri. Immersion only vaccinated fish suffered 6·7% mortality and immersion plus oral-boosted fish had a 3·3% mortality. Mortality among non-vaccinated controls was 96·7% and was significantly ( P < 0·01) above the vaccinated mortality. The relative per cent survival for the immersion-only fish was 93·1, while it was 96·6 for the immersion plus oral-boosted fish. Agglutinating antibody titres of the vaccinated fish were significantly ( P < 0·05) higher than the control fish. When the ponds were drained 6 months after stocking, 42·7% of non-vaccinated, 56·3% of immersion-only and 70·8% of immersion plus oral-boosted fish were harvested. Survival of immersion plus orally-boosted fish was significantly ( P < 0·05) higher than the controls of immersion-only fish. Duplicate populations of immersion plus oral-booster-vaccinated fish grew 34% and 56% faster, respectively, on an average daily gain than the control fish, while immersion-only fish in one pond grew 20% less per day and fish in the second pond grew 48% faster. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
