Detection of infectious bursal disease virus of poultry in clinical samples by RT-PCR.

The RT-PCR technique was adopted to amplify variable region of VP2 gene of infectious bursal disease virus using three different sets of primers. These primers could generate products of 643, 474 and 552 bp sizes. The authenticity of the amplicons was confirmed by their size in agarose gel, restriction enzyme digestion and by nested PCR. Out of total five clinical samples tested, IBD viral genomic RNA could be detected in four by RT-PCR. Restriction enzyme digestion of PCR products with StuI could differentiate clinical samples from an intermediate vaccine strain currently being used in India.