A comparative study of avianbordetella‐like strains,bordetella bronchiseptica, alcaligenes faecalisand other related nonfermentable bacteria1

Abstract
Cultural and biochemical characteristics, electrophoretic patterns of soluble proteins, and pathogenicity in turkey poults, of 30 avian gram‐negative nonfermentable bacterial strains acquired from various geographical regions, of which 26 had been isolated from turkeys and one each from a chicken, duck, goose and sharp‐tailed munia, were compared to those of Bordetella bronchiseptica, Alcaligenes faecalis, Alcaligenes denitrificans, Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Bordetella parapertussis. With the exception of two turkey isolates, the avian nonfermentable strains constituted a very homogeneous taxon with characteristics of the turkey coryza agent, which has been tentatively designated as a Bordetella‐like bacterium. On the basis of the features studied it could be clearly differentiated from B. bronchiseptica, A. faecalis and the other bacteria, suggesting that the Bordetella‐like bacterium occupies a distinct taxonomic position. No relevant differences were found between the strains of turkey coryza isolated in Germany and those from USA. The remaining two bacterial strains from turkeys showed the typical characteristics of B. bronchiseptica and A. faecalis respectively.