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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Livestock Behavior Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #259880
Title: Effects of Corn Naturally Contaminated with Deoxynivalenol (Vomitoxin) on Broiler Performance, Intestinal Physiology and Immune System

Author
item XU, L - Purdue University
item Eicher, Susan
item APPLEGATE, TODD - Purdue University

Submitted to: International Poultry Forum Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/8/2010
Publication Date: 1/26/2011
Citation: Xu, L., Eicher, S.D., Applegate, T.J. 2011. Effects of Corn Naturally Contaminated with Deoxynivalenol (Vomitoxin) on Broiler Performance, Intestinal Physiology and Immune System. International Poultry Forum Proceedings. p. 2.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: An experiment was conducted to determine the impacts of different concentrations of deoxynivalenol (DON) on performance, intestinal physiology and inflammatory immune functionality response to broilers challenged or unchallenged with lippolysaccharide (LPS). A 3-week feeding study with 5 concentrations of DON was conducted to measure BW and feed intake. Dietary DON concentration was formulated to contain approximately 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 ppm of DON (n = 8 cages/treatment; 8 birds/cage). BW was recorded at 7, 14, and 21 d of age. At 21 d of age, birds fed 12 ppm DON had depressed BW (9.6%) versus the birds in the control group. Dietary DON had no effect on feed intake at 21 d of age. In addition to growth measurement, birds were either not injected or injected with LPS (i.p. 1 mg/kg of BW) 24 h prior to tissue and blood collection. Dietary DON had no effect on crypt depth and goblet cell, but increased villus height by feeding up to 6 ppm DON versus the control and 3 ppm DON (P=0.02, P=0.04; respectively). Serum complement activity was not significantly affected by DON whether or not they were challenged with LPS. The number of heterophils in whole blood decreased and the number of lymphocytes increased linearly when feeding DON in the LPS challenged birds (P<0.05) but was not significantly affected by DON when birds were not challenged with LPS. Cecal tonsil cells were cultured with Staphlococcus aureus or FluoSpheres® beads and phagocytic activities measured via flow cytometry analysis. Cecal tonsil cell phagocytosis of beads was not affected by DON with or without LPS challenge. Conversely, phagocytic capacity of cecal tonsil cells to killed S. aureus was significantly reduced over 2.5 fold by high concentrations of DON when they were not challenged with LPS (P<0.05), however, there was no effect of dietary DON when birds were challenged with LPS. Overall, the results indicate that corn naturally-contaminated with up to 12 ppm DON reduced broiler BW at 21 d of age and reduced phagocytosis by cecal tonsil cells of a killed S. aureus in unchallenged birds, and greatly decreased heterophil:lymphocyte ratios in LPS challenged birds. These data underscore the need to control mycotoxins and microbial contamination of chicken diets.