Seroprevalence of Newcastle Disease Virus in Slaughtered Pigeons from Selected Markets in Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria

Newcastle disease (ND) outbreak even in the face of vaccination is a common problem in Nigeria. Three Newcastle disease (ND) panzootic were recorded in the past and one of such was caused by feral pigeon fecal contamination of poultry feed materials. The study was designed to investigate the presence of ND antibodies in pigeons slaughtered in three markets in Zaria Nigeria. A total of 1500 Pigeons sera samples were tested across the selected markets, namely: Sabon-gari, Samaru and Tudun-wada markets. Five hundred blood samples were collected from each market. An overall seroprevalence of 22.33% (335/1500) was recorded in this study. Hemagglutination inhibition test revealed that pigeons from Sabon-gari market had the highest seroprevalence of 29% (145/500). Female pigeons had higher seroprevalence of 27.66% (130/470) compared to male pigeons 19.90% (205/1030). Younger pigeons of  10 weeks old 20.99% (238/1348). Also, only in Samaru market was there a significant association between ages ( P  = 0.00) and sexes ( P  = 0.00) of pigeons and seroprevalence of ND. Therefore, free routine ND vaccination campaign should be launched in the study areas with more emphases targeting the market species in order to mitigate the epidemic cycle of the virus. Moreover, market poultry farmers should be enlightened on the economic significance of the disease and the need to maintain strict biosecurity measures on their market farms.