Combination of competitive exclusion and immunization with an attenuated live Salmonella vaccine strain in chickens

To use the advantages of both the competitive exclusion (CE) technique and immunization with a live Salmonella vaccine, the combination of these methods was studied. Specific-pathogen-free chickens were pretreated by combined or single administration of a CE culture and a commercial live Salmonella typhimurium vaccine on days 1 and 2 of life and challenged with Salmonella typhimurium on day 3 to study the exclusion effect by both the CE preparation and the Salmonella vaccine. The exclusion effect by the CE culture combined with the immunologic effect by the live vaccine was studied after challenge of the birds on day 43 of age. The number of challenge organisms in ceca was used to evaluate the efficacy of the pretreatment. The protective exclusion effect of the CE culture was substantial in very young chicks and still detectable in 6-wk-old birds. The attenuated Salmonella typhimurium vaccine produced only an initially occurring exclusion effect. Because the exclusion effect of the CE culture was considerably stronger than the exclusion effect of the attenuated Salmonella typhimurium vaccine, the combination of both did not result in an additive protective effect. In order to exploit the exclusion potential between Salmonella strains and to attain an additive exclusion effect by a CE culture and a vaccine strain, live Salmonella vaccines are needed that are sufficiently attenuated without affecting genes essential for colonization exclusion of other Salmonella organisms. In 6-wk-old birds, the exclusion effect by the CE culture combined with the immunologic effect by the live Salmonella vaccine resulted in a degree of protection considerably beyond that generated by the exclusive use of the two methods. The administration of the live Salmonella vaccine strain prior to or simultaneously with the CE culture revealed the best protective effect because such combinations ensure an adequate persistence of the vaccine strain as prerequisite for the expression of an exclusion effect in very young chicks and the development of a strong immune response affording protection in older birds.