Poultry Salmonella Specific Bacteriophage Isolation and Characterization

Bacteriophage named as SAL-PG (Salmonella bacteriophage), specific to Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum was isolated by an enrichment method directly from waste water near to poultry farm. For the isolation of phage 4.5 ml water sample, 0.5 ml of 10X Nutrient Broth and 0.5 ml of log phage bacteria were mixed well and incubated at 37° C for overnight followed by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes. The presence of bacteriophage was observed by spot test over the bacterial lawn of and plaque assay. The host range of the isolated bacteriophage was determined by spot test using 12 different bacterial isolates. The phages were found to infect Salmonella pullorum, Salmonella gallinarum and Salmonella typhimurium and produced clear plaque on these Salmonella serovars. The bacteriophage was able to survive in wide range of pH between 2 to 9 and resistant at 60° C for 1 hour. More than 50% phages were readily adsorbed to the host bacteria. The restriction enzyme analysis showed that the phage DNA possess restriction site for Taq?I, HindIII and BstYI; but no restriction site for XhoI and BstEII as these two enzymes failed to digest the phage DNA. The characterizations of the bacteriophage would be helpful in establishing a basis for adopting the application of the most effective bacteriophage treatment to control these poultry bacteria.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v12i2.21264 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2014). 12 (2): 107-114