1

Speaker(s)：

Chao-Fang Yu

Topic

Efficacy Study on Egg Yolk Antibody against Riemerella anatipestifer Infection

Abstract

The safety, efficacy and duration of protection tests on egg yolk antibodies against serotype 2 of Riemerella anatipestifer infection were performed in ducklings and goslings before. Various tests on bivalent egg yolk antibodies against serotype 1 and 2 have been conducted. The results showed that both bivalent egg yolk antibodies isolated from chicken or duck layers were efficacious against homologous challenges. The passive immunization protection stayed for five to ten days in Pekin duck, Muscovy duck and white Roman goose. In addition, the bivalent antibodies were effective for treatment if the challenges were less than 10^7 CFU/mL. However, there were no cross protection against other serotype challenges. Considering the production cost, source of pathogen-free layers as well as reproducibility of efficacy test, we have chosen chicken layers as a biofactory for future antibody production and will apply for a veterinary biological product license after the completion of field trials.

2

Speaker(s)：

Min-Shiuh Lee

Topic

Characterization of avian influenza virus subtype H5isolated from ducks in Taiwan 2013

Abstract

In 2013, five strains of subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H5 were isolated and identified from healthy ducks in five waterfowl farms in Hualien County in the eastern Taiwan. Animal inoculation tests were negative for 5 strains of H5 subtype of AIV. The amino acid sequence near the cleavage site of HA (IETR↓GLF) corresponded to the characteristics of AIV of low pathogenicity. To understand the molecular characteristics and epidemiology of the H5 subtype of influenza virus in ducks, the eight segments of genomic sequence in each virus were determined, and genetic and evolutionary analyses were conducted by combining related sequences in NCBI GenBank. Results indicated that eight genes of these viruses originating from the Eurasian lineage.

3

Speaker(s)：

Tsung-wen Hsu

Topic

Tracking Assessment of Effectiveness in Animal Health Management Training of Young Swine Producers in Taiwan

Abstract

In order to adjust future training plan to meet industrial needs, this plan was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of training programs regarding swine production medicine, diseases prevention education and training. The aspects for the evaluation included training effectiveness for individual learning and for industry. In this study, we focused on 6 classes held in 2010 to 2012 with swine production medicine or disease prevention as the training topics. We used the training effectiveness evaluation indicators and common questionnaire which was constructed by the Council of Agriculture, to explore the behavior of participants after training and operating performance improvement situations. A total of 293 questionnaires were sent and a total of 84 valid copies were returned (recovery of 28.67%).

The structure of the evaluation included 9 dimensions with a total of 40 questions. The top three scores were "Production Management Dimension", "Human Resources Dimension" and "R＆D Dimension"; whereas "Marketing Dimension" ranked at the last. Only the average score of "Production Management Dimension” was higher than four points, which reflected the participants expressed their satisfaction with the training of production management, while the reaction to the rest dimensions were ordinary.

The swine production medicine or disease prevention education and training focused on production management, the rest dimensions were not involved too much. This has reflected in the results of training effectiveness assessment. In order to demonstrate the real training effectiveness and avoid biased results, in the future we need to modify the common questionnaire and develop a suitable one in accordance with the contents of the training.

In Production Management Dimensions, participants expressed that their abilities in disease awareness and prevention skills, animal vaccine management, health management, bio-security operations, implementation of production records and quarantine control and other preventive measures were enhanced after training. These results show   the participants have applied what they learned from the training to routine work to help reduce the occurrence of animal diseases and improve animal survival rate.

In the future, we will improve the design of training courses according to the assessment results, to enhance young farmers’ animal health and diseases prevention concepts and skills, as well as to encourage young farmers to engage in livestock industry.