Titers of precipitins in strains of chickens exposed to Marek's disease.
Titers of precipitating antibody against Marek's disease (MD) herpesvirus were determined on serum collected from five strains of chickens at intervals throughout the 411 day test period. The average titers for the genetically resistant Cornell K strain were consistently higher (P <.01) than for the genetically susceptible Cornell S strain. This relationship between disease resistance and antibody titers may have been fortuitous because the titers of three other strains varied in relationship to each other and did not appear to be related to resistance against MD. However, when strain effect was removed there was some relationship between antibody titer and resistance to the disease since chickens that died from MD had lower titers up to 139 days (P <.05) than did others.
Spencer
J L
JL
Animal Pathology Division, Health of Animals Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Animal Diseases Research Institute, Hull, Quebec, Canada.
Grunder
A A
AA
Robertson
A
A