Effect of fowl adenovirus on replication of vaccine strain of Marek’s disease virus in chickens

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of field strain, serotype 7 (FAdV-7 JN-5/10), of fowl adenovirus infection on the replication of Rispens/CVI988 strain of Marek’s disease virus. Ninety one-day-old SPF chickens were divided into six groups. The chickens from group I were vaccinated against Marek’s disease (MD) and 24 h later infected with the adenovirus; chickens from group II were vaccinated and infected simultaneously; chickens from group III were infected with the adenovirus and 24 h after the infection vaccinated against MD. The chickens from groups IV-VI were: control of infection (IV), control of vaccination (V), and neither vaccinated nor infected (VI). After 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 d post infection, the number of copies of pp38 gene of Rispens strain and hexon gene of FAdV strain was determined in the bursa of Fabricius and liver using real-time PCR. The results indicated that in all cases the replication of Rispens strain was reduced to about 1.0 log10 - 3.5 log10 in chickens infected with the adenovirus and vaccinated against MD compared with the chickens only vaccinated. Sixty-three one-day-old SPF chickens infected with adenovirus and vaccinated against MD were challenged with vv MD virus field strain. The protection index in this experiment was 55.6%-77.8%.