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Vaccination of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), by immersion and oral booster against Edwardsiella ictaluri
Author(s) -
PLUMB J. A.,
VINITNANTHARAT S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of fish diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-2761
pISSN - 0140-7775
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2761.1993.tb00848.x
Subject(s) - catfish , ictalurus , edwardsiella ictaluri , biology , immersion (mathematics) , zoology , booster dose , veterinary medicine , fishery , medicine , fish <actinopterygii> , immunology , antibody , titer , mathematics , pure mathematics
. A commercially prepared vaccine against Edwardsiella ictaluri was used to vaccinate 12‐day‐old channel catfish fry by immersion, or by immersion plus an oral booster 2 months later. One month after the fish were fed the booster vaccine, they were challenged by waterborne exposure to 2·1 × 10 6 cells ml −1 of E. ictaluri. Immersion only vaccinated fish suffered 6·7% mortality and immersion plus oral‐boosted fish had a 3·3% mortality. Mortality among non‐vaccinated controls was 96·7% and was significantly ( P < 0·01) above the vaccinated mortality. The relative per cent survival for the immersion‐only fish was 93·1, while it was 96·6 for the immersion plus oral‐boosted fish. Agglutinating antibody titres of the vaccinated fish were significantly ( P < 0·05) higher than the control fish. When the ponds were drained 6 months after stocking, 42·7% of non‐vaccinated, 56·3% of immersion‐only and 70·8% of immersion plus oral‐boosted fish were harvested. Survival of immersion plus orally‐boosted fish was significantly ( P < 0·05) higher than the controls of immersion‐only fish. Duplicate populations of immersion plus oral‐booster‐vaccinated fish grew 34% and 56% faster, respectively, on an average daily gain than the control fish, while immersion‐only fish in one pond grew 20% less per day and fish in the second pond grew 48% faster.