Background and Aim: Infectious bronchitis (IB) is still a major problem among poultry industry in Indonesia, IB outbreaks continue to happen even in vaccinated flocks. The emergence of new IB virus (IBV) variants might lead to mismatching between vaccine virus strain and circulating virus strain, this may be a reason of vaccination failure. Information about circulating IBV in a region is important to decide which IB vaccine should be used. However, information about recent IBV strains which circulated in Indonesia and their genetic characters were limited; therefore, the aim of our research was to determine the genetic characterization of S1 gene of IBV isolated from commercial poultry flocks in West Java, Indonesia.

Materials and Methods: A total of 47 viral isolate samples collected from chickens with clinical sign and reduced in egg production. Six IB live vaccines were used as control, the reference vaccines represent IBV strains including H120, H52, 4/91, CR88, 233A, and 1-96. Primers XCe2+ and XCe2- were used to amplify S1 gene partially.

Results: Twenty-six of 47 samples showed positive result to S1 gene of IBV by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Three IBV isolates, Indonesia/K233A31/18, Indonesia/K4A9/17, and Indonesia/P3/17, were selected for nucleotide sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of 352 nucleotides of the partial S1 gene shows that isolates Indonesia/K4A9/17 and Indonesia/K233A31/18 have 100% homology with IBV vaccine strain 4/91, while isolate Indonesia/P3/17 has 100% homology with IBV vaccine strain 233A.

Conclusion: Our result indicates that at least two IBV strains were circulating among poultry in West Java, Indonesia, which is IBV close to vaccine strain 4/91 and 233A. The present study provides updates on the circulating IBV in commercial poultry flocks in West Java, Indonesia, and might use as guidance on selecting a proper IB vaccine strain to improve IB vaccination efficacy in certain region.

Keywords: genetic characterization, Indonesia, infectious bronchitis virus, poultry, S1 gene, West Java.

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