A. A. Vipulasiri, G. A.Gunawardana, M. A. R. Priyantha
Salmonella pullorum is a common disease in local poultry industry, which causes severe economic impact on the industry. Whole blood agglutination test (WBAT) is a screening test done to individual birds in a poultry breeder flock. It is compulsory to maintain a free status of this disease in line with the regulation declared by the Department of Animal Production and Health (2010). It is believed that of all the different methods used for reading whole blood agglutination tests, which can be misleading, prolonged treatment with antibiotics was the most. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of antibiotics on the results of whole blood agglutination tests in commercial chicken. This study was carried out with different antibiotics which are widely used in the field, such as Enrofloxacillin, Amoxycillin, Sulpa-Trimethoprim combination and Enro-Amoxycillin combination. The result indicated that antibiotics had no direct and significant effect on the reading of WBAT, although they were indirectly involved in the reading. In the field, antibiotics may flush out microflora, including Salmonella, from the GIT and prevent the development of high antibody titer in chicken. The study concluded that the isolation of S. Pullorum from the organs failed when the birds were infected at adult stage.
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