Fumonisin mycotoxicosis in broilers: performance and pathology

Fusarium moniliforme culture material containing fumonisin B1 at 300 mg/kg was incorporated into a broiler starter ration and fed ad libitum to 1-day-old broiler chicks for 2 weeks in two experiments. Clinical features of the disease produced included diarrhea, a 19% reduction in body weight, a 30% increase in relative liver weight, and a worsening of feed conversion by 20 points at 2 weeks of age. Histologically, chicks fed fumonisin had multifocal hepatic necrosis, biliary hyperplasia, muscle necrosis, intestinal goblet-cell hyperplasia, and rickets. Simultaneous feeding of 0.5% aluminosilicate had no effect on the clinical disease or lesions. The clinical disease and lesions induced mimicked those of a viral enteritis.