Salmonellosis, among poultry infectious diseases, not only imposes economic losses in the field of poultry breeding but also is considered a zoonotic disease. This study aimed to investigate the presence of invA, sivH, and agfA virulence genes in Salmonella species. The present study was conducted on 30 Salmonella strains. Samples were cultured on selective and differential media, and afterward, the isolates were serotyped using specific antisera based on the Kauffman-White table. Subsequently, the samples were analyzed to detect invA, sivH, and agfA genes by polymerase chain reaction technique. The results indicated that 30 (100%) isolates had invA and agfA virulence genes and 28 (93.33%) isolates had a sivH virulence gene. The highest frequency of serotypes was related to Salmonella infantis. Among the studied serotypes, Salmonella uno and Salmonella O35 lacked the sivH virulence gene, unlike other serotypes. The findings of this study could pave the way for Salmonella monitoring and be used as a pattern to detect Salmonella bacteria-bearing genes encoding invasion and fimbria.
Keywords: Serotyping; Salmonella; agfA gene; invA gene; sivH gene.