Vol. 11, Special Issue 3 (2022)

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 11 different districts of Assam from different agro-climatic zones at various time periods during the period from February, 2019 to March, 2020. Association of various factors like age, breed, season and health status with the prevalence of the affected ducks were studied. Indirect ELISA was performed by using manually made Duck plague ELISA technique. The results obtained were analyzed by the Optical density (O.D.) of the wells measured at 492nm in ELISA reader (Biorad, USA).

Results: In the present study, a total of 465 serum samples were tested, of which 207 were found positive for DPV antibodies with a sero-positivity of 44.51 percent. Among the different age groups, the highest sero-positivity was recorded in adults (59.90%), followed by growers (29.46%) and ducklings (10.62%). Breed wise, highest sero-positivity was recorded in Pati ducks (29.95%), followed by Indian Runner (22.22%), White Pekin (17.87%), Nageswari (16.42%) and Khaki Campbel (13.52%). Health status-wise, 40.70 percent sero-positivity was recorded in adult ducks followed by growers (35.39%) and ducklings (23.89%) from ailing flock. In apparently healthy flock, adult ducks had sero-positivity of 42.55 percent followed by growers (37.23%) and ducklings (20.21%). Season-wise, highest prevalence was recorded in pre-monsoon season (38.64%) followed by post-monsoon (30.43%), winter (21.25%) and monsoon (9.66%) season.