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Title: EFFECTS OF SORGHUM ERGOT ON BROILER PERFORMANCE

Author
item BAILEY, C - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item FAZZINO, JR, J - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item ZIEHR, M - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item SATTAR, M - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item HAQ, A - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item ODVODY, G - POUL SCI, TEXAS A&M UNIV
item Porter, James

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a worldwide important cereal and forage crop. Recently, the fungus Claviceps africana has threatened the sorghum industry on a global basis by reducing production of the hybrid seed necessary for commercialization. The honeydew exudate of this fungus severely impacts mechanical harvest and predisposes plants to secondary fungal infections and other diseases. The toxins produced by other Claviceps species have devastating effects on poultry and livestock production and are also a health-threat to humans. The major toxins produced by C. africana were isolated and identified in the RRC Toxicology Research Unit, and determined to be dihydroergosine, festuclavine, pyroclavine, dihydroelymoclavine, and chanoclanine. Since sorghum is a major constituent of poultry and other livestock feeds, collaborations by RRC and Texas A&M scientists were conducted to determine if these toxins represented a threat to the poultry industry. Sorghum ergot significantly reduced gains in four-week-old broilers and cumulative body weight at week five. Feed conversion was significantly reduced in all three phases of feeding. Sorghum ergot did not significantly reduce growth but week three feed-to-gain ratios were higher. Mortality was not significant but the long term manifestations of sorghum ergot ingestion is unknown. Sorghum ergot appears to be slightly toxic to broilers; however, additional experiments are needed to determine safe dietary alkaloid concentrations.

Technical Abstract: Three experiments evaluated the performance of broilers fed sorghum ergot consisting of sphacelia/sclerotia of Claviceps africana present in tailings removed by conditioning of seed from grain sorghum hybrid seed production fields near Uvalde (Experiments 1 and 2) and Dumas (Experiment 3), Texas. Percent sphacelia/sclerotia and total alkaloid content, respectively, in sorghum ergot tailings were 8% and 11.3 ppm for Uvalde and 75% and 235 ppm for Dumas. Sorghum ergot and control sorghum diets were based on the 1994 NRC requirements for starting broilers. In Experiment 1, neither growth nor feed efficiency was significantly reduced in male b boilers fed sorghum ergot from hatch to 3 weeks of age, but liver weights were significantly greater than those in the control. For Experiment 2, straight-run broilers were raised to 6 weeks of age in floor pens using a three phase feeding program. Sorghum ergot significantly reduced gain in four-week-old broilers and cumulative body weight at five weeks. For Experiment 3, control sorghum and the 75% ergot tailings were added to corn/soy basal diets at rates of 0, 2.5, 5 and 10% by weight and fed to male broilers from hatch to three weeks of age. Sorghum ergot did not significantly reduce growth but Week 3 feed-to-gain ratios were higher. Neither type nor concentration of sorghum significantly affected relative liver weights. Mortality was not significant in any of the experiments. Sorghum ergot appears to be slightly toxic to broilers; however, additional experiments will be required to determine a "safe" dietary alkaloid (dihydroergosine) concentration.