CEBU CITY - A locally developed vaccine that can considerably
help reduce the incidence of a deadly disease attacking poultry is set to be
more extensively used in the Visayas and some areas in Mindanao.
Plans for expanding the use of the vaccine against Newcastle
Disease (ND) in central and southern Philippines are now being finalized, the
Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) reported.
Initially, the vaccines are being distributed to backyard
native chicken raisers in Central Visayas through the provincial veterinary
offices of Region 7.
The vaccines was the product of a research project undertaken
by the DA-Regional Field Unit 7 (RFU) and DA Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
DA-BAR headed by Director Nicomedes P. Eleazar supported the
project, including laboratory and field experiments, through a research grant
for poultry and livestock program. A Japanese volunteer and Filipino researchers
assisted in generating the technology on vaccine production.
The research team is headed by Dr. Rachel B. Cadeliña,
agricultural center chief of the DA-RFU 7 Biologics Vaccine Production
Laboratory in Cebu City.
The team, reported BAR's Dr. Marlowe Aquino, has been working
on the vaccine for the past three years.
Recently, a report on the project titled "Efficacy of
Locally-developed Inactivated Oil Emulsion Newcastle Disease Vaccine in Native
Chicken won the 2007 PSAS (Philippine Society of Animal Science) award (Health
and Welfare category).
Initial results of the research showed that the vaccine,
which is much cheaper than the commercially prepared ones, can considerably help
eradicate ND even within the free range production management system of native
chicken.
To be successful, BAR stressed, native chicken raisers must
strictly follow clean and sanitized management system and incorporate the ND
vaccine's use for better production efficiency.
"Given the utility and application of the local ND vaccines,
a 100-percent survival rate is expected when applied properly compared to zero
or unvaccinated native chicken during production management," wrote Dr. Aquino.
Native chicken has long been the main source of meat and eggs
in rural areas. It constitutes 57 percent of the country's total poultry
production.
The main factor that limits and could potentially downgrade
native chicken production in the country is the prevalence of Newcastle Disease.
Endemic in almost all regions of the country, ND is a highly
infectious viral disease that affects poultry and other birds, attacking mostly
the lunges and nervous system. Commercial chicken flocks affected by it could
immediately incur 90 to 100 percent mortality rate.
The Animal Health Yearbook 2000 published by BAI states that
out of 130,479 reported cases, 41,597 (31.9 percent) were the cited deaths
caused by ND. The yearbook also recorded that the poultry industry loses P6.1
billion annually owing to the disease.
While vaccination is the most effective preventive measure
against ND, it is not a common practice among backyard poultry raisers, the
DA-RFU-7 noted. It is because vaccines are expensive and are not readily
available since they are mostly imported.
But with the new vaccine, the DA-Central Visayas Integrated
Agricultural Research Center (CENVIARC) expects to vaccinate most of the
upgraded native chicken population in Central Visayas.
Region 7 accounts for 9.35 percent of the country's poultry population.
