Genotyping of avian infectious bronchitis virus in broiler farms in Duhok province, North of Iraq

Abstract EN

infectious bronchitis disease is becoming the most challenging disease in broiler fields in Iraq.

this disease leads to massive economic loss every round of production.

three vaccine strains H120, MA5, and 4 / 91 are used to combat the disease during the production period while outbreaks occur continuously.

this study aimed to investigates the prevalence and circulation of mass and 4 / 91 IBV strains in the broiler fields in Duhok province which is the first record in the area.

positive samples were obtained from suspected flocks to this disease during 2018-2020.

a specific region of S1 was amplified using specific pairs of primers.

genotyping was performed by nested PCR using specified primers for detecting both mass and 4 / 91 strains.

in the results, all of the positive flocks were infected with nephropathogenic strain 793 / b or 4 / 91.

two of the positive flocks had an infection with both mass and 4 / 91.

these results indicate that more than one strain circulates in the area as well as shows the weakness of vaccines used in broiler fields.