Abstract

The production of polyvalent Salmonella antisera was carried out by immunizing rabbits. The antigens were obtained from four strains of Salmonella species. The production of the antisera was achieved by administration of antigen emulsions in alum throughout the duration of immunization, antigen emulsions in alum used only at the primary immunization while subsequent antigens were administered intravenously without alum throughout the duration of the immunization period. The results obtained showed high titres of Salmonella antisera that ranged from 1:1024 – 1:4096, 1:256 – 1:1024 and 1:64 – 1:256 for antigen emulsions in alum throughout the immunization period, antigen emulsions in alum for primary immunization only and antigen without alum, respectively. Specificity test revealed that the antisera produced were specific to Salmonella antigen although slight reactions were observed with Escherichia coli at a very low titre ranging from 1:4 – 1:16. The avidity test showed that the antisera produced were of high standard and ranged from 12 - 32 s. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the commercially produced antigen and locally produced antigen against the antisera. The work therefore, demonstrated the possibility of producing high Salmonellaantisera by immunizing rabbits with Salmonella antigens.

Key words: Salmonella O and H antigens, antisera production.