Dr. Reta DugumaTADIOSE, HABTE2020-06-262023-11-082020-06-262023-11-082015-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/21871MSc ThesisCross sectional survey was conducted on 96 randomly selected farmers in Mecha district from April to May 2015 in order assess the driving forces which contribute for the occurrence of ND. Ninety nine percent of farmers are practicing scavenging poultry production with no separate housing. Eighty nine percent of farmers reported ND as a major disease condition. Although ND is not age specific in the study area, based on the survival time baby chicks, growers and broody hens are more susceptible to the disease. ND is more common at the end of dry season. Even if the cause of ND is not well understood by farmers the loss is high that might be related with poor bio-security and vaccination. Any health technology was not received by 84.4% of farmers. The screening test shows 66.2% sero-conversion. An Experimental study was also conducted at DZARC with proper experimental set up. Two breeds, local and koekeok chickens were used in four treatment and a control groups with three replications each. The replications were 12 local and 19 koekoek chickens. The four treatments uses I2 vaccine through eye drop, water, parboiled barley and litter spray. Pre vaccination serum was collected at day 1, 14 and 20 while post vaccination was taken at day 36, 46 and at pre-challenge. Sample was also taken 8 days after the challenged with wild ND strain. Pathogenic Index HI and survival rate were used to detect the protection level of the treatments. The result shows, the antibody response of chicken and the pathogenic index was not significantly different between breeds but protection was higher in all treatments than the control. The pathogenic index was lower in ocular and spray vaccinated chicken. Survival rate of the chicken is significantly lower in control groups but higher chicken vaccinated with ocular and spray route. Therefore spray vaccination is the better choice for route of vi thermostable (I2) vaccines in village production system. This route of vaccination is preferred over the others because it easy to administer, effective and can also be performed by trained farmers.enI2NDvaccinationchickenThesis