Antibody response to sheep erythrocytes in Indian native vis-à-vis imported breeds of chickens.

1. A total of 433 birds (7 weeks old) of both sexes belonging to Indian native breeds, including, Aseel, Kadakanath, Naked Neck and Frizzle fowl along with the imported breeds Dahlem Red, White Leghorn, Synthetic dam line broiler (SDL) and Naked Neck broiler were utilised to test the primary antibody response to sheep erythrocytes by haemagglutination test. The effect of genotype (breed), sex and their interactions on antibody response were also studied. 2. The results revealed the presence of natural antibodies in all groups under study. 3. All groups except broilers showed the highest HA titre on day 5 post immunisation, which gradually declined until the end of the experiment (19th day post immunisation). In broilers, the peak HA titre was observed on day 12. 4. Dahlem Red showed the highest response throughout. The lowest antibody response was recorded for broilers except on day 19 post immunisation when it exceeded the White Leghorn value. 5. Amongst the native Indian breeds, the Naked neck had the highest titre on day 5 post immunisation but the Aseel titre was highest on days 12 and 19. 6. Males tended to have higher titres than females in Aseel, Kadakanath, Naked Neck, White Leghorn and Naked Neck broilers whereas Frizzle, Dahlem Red and SDL broilers showed the converse. 7. Statistical analysis revealed significant variation in HA response among the various genetic groups on different days post immunisation. The apparent differences between sexes were not significant. However, interactions between breed and sex were significant on day 5 and 19 post immunisation.