Development of approaches to the diagnosis of cattle leukemia in the system of antiepizootic measures in the Belgorod Region

Abstract

The aim of the research is the use of serological and molecular genetic methods for detecting virus-infected cattle leukemia, as well as determining the significance of PCR in identifying BLV infected calves in the system of antiepizootic health measures. The developed technique for early diagnosis of leukemia in cattle made it possible to accelerate the process of recovery of disadvantaged farms in the Belgorod region by increasing the frequency of studies from 6 months to 2-3 months and an increase in the sensitivity of the agar-gel immunodiffusion test. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the sensitivity of the agar-gel immunodiffusion test and makes it possible to detect, on average, from 8.8% to 20.25% more animals infected with the leukemia virus compared to the standard reaction of the agar-gel immunodiffusion test. The additional use of molecular genetic tests for the detection of proviral DNA of the leukemia virus makes it possible to identify at the early stages of the development of the leukemia process, in calves from 15 days of age, the genomic material of bovine leukemia virus, which will also allow in a shorter time to carry out a qualitative improvement of young cattle in dysfunctional farms.