Salmonellosis is one of the major health problem affect pigeons and protection of pigeons against this disease is very
important, for this purpose the present work was planned to prepare an inactivated Montanide ISA- 206 oil adjuvant
vaccine from a locally pigeon isolate of Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) and determined of the optimal dose,
which protect pigeon against salmonellosis. Evaluation of such preparation following the quality control tests revealed
that it was free from any foreign contaminants, safe and immunogenic. Pigeons were divided into six groups, three of
them vaccinated subcutaneously with single dose (0.5ml) of different bacteria concentrations (10⁸,10⁹ and 10¹⁰ CFU/
dose) and the others three received 2 doses with 3 weeks intervals with same route and concentrations. The
vaccination/challenge assay with a virulent S. typhimurium organism using 5x10⁷ CFU/dose revealed that protection rates
of vaccinated birds were 70% ,75% and 75% for the first three groups (Ia, IIa, IIIa) respectively, while the other three
groups gave 80%, 85% and 85% protection(Ib, IIb, IIIb) respectively.Control groups could not withstand the challenge
and protection rate were 15% and 20% respectively. The seroevaluation showed that the humoral immune response
developed against S. typhimurium in vaccinated pigeons was high. On conclusion the optimal dose of the prepared
vaccine should be 10⁹ CFU/dose applied twice with three weeks interval, which can cover the needed requirements and
protect pigeon against salmonellosis