Carboxymethylated and acetylated xerogel derivatives of Plectranthus esculentus starch protect Newcastle disease vaccines against cold chain failure

•Starch derivatives kept Newcastle disease vaccine stable in cold chain failure.•Stability of these vaccines was 4–6 times better than peptone stabilized vaccine.•Vaccinated chickens developed high serum antibody levels after a single dose.•Vaccines fortified with starch derivatives were stable and immunogenic.•Low concentrations of starch derivatives were effective vaccine stabilizers. Developing vaccine stabilizers from local natural sources is desirable especially if the stabilizer would enhance the ability of the antigen to withstand frequent failures in cold chains. The study was undertaken to formulate immunogenic live Newcastle Disease (ND) LaSota vaccines stabilized with modified native starches for use at cold and ambient temperatures and to assess the immunogenicity of the starch stabilized vaccines in vaccinated chickens. Native starch extracted from the tubers of Plectranthus esculentus (Family, Lamiaceae) was modified by carboxymethylation and acetylation/xerogel formation and used as vaccine stabilizers of ND LaSota virus with/without buffers/bulking excipients. Cold Chain Failure (CCF) was simulated by storing the vaccines at 5 ± 2 °C for one month then at 37 ± 1 °C for 96 h. The stability of the samples were evaluated in comparison with peptone stabilized ND vaccines using pH, residual moisture, XRD, reconstitution time, mean embryo infective dose (EID50) and haemagglutination (HA) tests. Haemagglutination inhibition was used to evaluate the efficacy of the vaccines in conferring positive serum antibody titers (≥23 log2) in vaccine-naïve 2-week old broilers that were orally administered a single dose of the vaccines kept at 37 ± 1 °C for 96 h and bled weekly over four weeks. Temperature, pH, moisture content and amorphousness impacted vaccine stability. Peptone stabilized vaccines were significantly less stable and most affected by temperature changes with 1.2log10EID50 loss while buffered/bulked trehalose, carboxymethylated and acetylated/xerogelized starch stabilized vaccines were most stable (0.2–0.5log10EID50 loss in titer) after 96 h in CCF. Buffered trehalose stabilized vaccine (TVB) had lower HA titres than peptone and starch stabilized vaccines containing D-mannitol and Na2HPO4. Antibody titres of vaccinated broilers were between 3.3 ± 1.398 and 8.35 ± 2.678. All the vaccines were immunogenic (HI ≥ 23) and developed HI titres (≥24) considered to be protective. Carboxymethylated and acetylated/xerogel derivatives of P. esculentus sta