Serological and molecular survey on the frequency of Mycoplasma synoviae in breeding stock, turkey and laying hens

Mycoplasma synoviae infection is becoming one of the main reasons for consultations in avian pathology practice.  The multiple consequences, in particular, of the so-called “Egg shell apex abnormalities syndrome” in layers, arthritis and breast blisters in turkeys, constitute a heavy economic burden through direct losses and/or condemnations at slaughter. This work reports figures of a serological monitoring carried out on turkey and broiler breeders, broiler turkeys, and laying hens by rapid plate agglutination test (24370 sera), Elisa (2873) and real-time PCR (3377 pools of 3 swabs each). Sera and swabs were collected from poultry farms of different regions of Morocco during the period of 2017 to June 2020. The results showed a slight decline in positivity compared to previous investigations, however the percentage of seropositive birds to Mycoplasma synoviae infection remain at high rates as high as 33% in broiler breeders, 61.22% in broiler turkeys and 57.9% in laying hens.

Key words:  Mycoplsma synoviae, Turkey, layer hens, RT-PCR, breast blister, egg shell abnormalities, ELISA, RPAT