Observations of experimentally induced quail bronchitis

Quail bronchitis was experimentally reproduced in captive-reared bobwhite quails (Colinus virginianus). Quails were inoculated with 10(6) mean tissue culture infective doses of quail bronchitis virus at 1,3,6, or 9 weeks of age by the intratracheal, intraperitoneal, or subcutaneous route. Clinical signs were minimal, but occasionally birds were ruffled, exhibited open-mouthed breathing, and developed "snicks." Mortality rates of quails inoculated at 1 or 3 weeks ranged from 7% to 87%. Quails inoculated at 6 or 9 weeks of age had mortality rates from 0% to 20%. Mean body weights of survivors that had been inoculated at 3 or 6 weeks were significantly less than those of controls (P less than 0.05). No significant differences in body weight were detected between quails inoculated at 1 or 9 weeks and their uninoculated controls. Antibodies to group I adenovirus were detected by agar gel precipitation in 87.5% of birds that survived infection.