Persistency of response to sheep RBC in guinea fowl at different weeks of age

A total of 40 guinea fowl birds from 4 different age groups i.e. 13 wk, 11 wk 3 d, 9 wk 5d and 6 wk 4d were used to study the persistency of antibody response to SRBC, estimated in terms of haem-agglutination (HA) titre at different ages. The HA titre were measured at 5, 9, 12 and 15 days post immunization (dpi). Peak HA titre were observed at 11 wk 3 d dpi followed by 9 wk 5 d age at all the stages. The HA titre at different days post injection showed quite consistent trend at all ages. It showed reasonable persistency from 5 dpi to 12 dpi with a peak at 8 dpi. At 15 dpi, the decrease was sharp. These results suggest that the early weeks of age are not optimum age for estimation of this parameter and 8 dpi seems to be more optimum stage for estimation of this trait.