Abstract: According to the sequence of hexon gene of fowl adenovirus groupⅠ(FAVⅠ) strain published in GenBank,two pairs of primers were designed and synthesized.The outer primers amplified a fragment of 475 bp in length, and the inner primers amplification fragment was 237 bp in length. A nested PCR assay for rapid detection of FAVⅠ was established.A specific 237 bp fragment was amplified from DNA templates of FAVⅠstrain,but no bands were amplified with templates extracted respectively from avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H9,Newcastle disease virus (NDV), infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV),duck plague virus (DPV), reticuloendotheliosis (REV), avian reovirus (ARV), Marek's disease virus (MDV). Sensitivity of the 1st and 2nd amplifications by the nested PCR assay were 100 pg and 1 fg,respectively.The sensitivite of the 2nd amplifications increased by 10⁵ times.The results showed that the nested PCR was specific,sensitive,rapid,accurate,and could be used as a routine assay for the detection of FAVⅠ.This method had good reproducibility, specificity and sensitivity, and might detect low content FAVⅠ accurately and rapidly. This method could be used as a method for the diagnosis and detection of clinical cases,and molecular epidemiological investigation of FAVⅠ.

Key words: fowl adenovirus groupⅠ; hexon gene; nested PCR; detection