Infectivity assay of bovine rotavirus: evaluation of plaque and end-point methods in comparison with immunofluorescent cell assay.

Three different methods, namely plaque assay, immunofluorescent cell (IFC) count and end-point dilution (TCID50) were evaluated for quantitative infectivity assay of the cell culture adapted UK strain of bovine rotavirus in secondary calf kidney (CK) cells and BGM cell line. Plaque and IFC count techniques were found equally efficient for infectivity titration of bovine rotavirus. Addition of trypsin into maintenance medium enhanced the sensitivity of the TCID50 method. Both CK and BGM cells served as efficient assay cells for infectivity assay of bovine rotavirus by IFC count and TCID50 methods, whereas, for plaque assay, only CK cells were found suitable.