Performance comparison between broilers positive and negative for antibodies against the chicken anemia virus

Abstract

The chicken anemia virus (CAV) is present in virtually every country investigated, Brazil including. The aim of this study was to determine what the difference in performance is between positive (progeny of breeders vaccinated or with natural infection) and negative broilers to the presence of antibodies against the CAV in currently intensive raising systems. As a result, it was observed that negative broilers were significantly heavier than positive broilers. Negative males had a final weight 5.43% higher than positive males. There was no significant difference among different treatments in relation to parameters as mortality and feeding conversion. These study indicated that the presence of antibodies against CAV in broilers – may it be through vaccination or natural infection of breeders – did not generate progeny with superior performance under the tested raising conditions.