Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of mucosal delivery of recombinant hcp of Campylobacter jejuni Type VI secretion system (T6SS) in chickens.

•Recombinant hemolysin co-regulated protein (rhcp) of C. jejuni was entrapped in chitosan based nanoparticles.•Mucosal delivery of rhcp induced significant rise in local and systemic antibody responses in chickens.•Immune responses conferred by mucosal delivery of rhcp associated with both Th1 and Th17 type pro-inflammatory responses.•Mucosal delivery of rhcp was superior over systemic immunization in terms of cecal clearance of C. jejuni.