Stunting syndrome in turkeys: physical and physiological changes

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of an induced enteric disorder, stunting syndrome (SS), on young turkeys. One-day-old poults were dosed per os with tryptose-phosphate broth (control) or inoculum (inoc) prepared from intestines of SS-affected poults. Inoculation depressed gain (P less than .001) and feed consumption (P less than .001) and impaired (P less than .001) the utilization of feed for gain up to 9 days of age (utilization was 2.02, 2.62 in inoc and 1.27, 1.61 in control poults at 5 and 9 days of age, respectively). Inoculation impaired (P less than .05) retention of nutrients at 8 days of age (dry matter, fat, protein, and ash retentions were 82.5, 88.8, 81.3, and 77.8% in controls and 79.3, 85.6, 74.5, and 74.1% in inoc poults, respectively). Small intestinal weight per 100 g of body weight was greater (P less than .001) in inoc poults, but empty weights per length of jejunum and ileum were less (P less than .05). The jejunal mucosa in inoc poults was thinner, exhibited extensive erosion of villi tips, and had microvilli that seemed to be fused when observed by using scanning electron microscopy. Activities of disaccharidases in the jejunum and ileum of inoc poults were less (P less than .05) than in control poults. In a second experiment, two additional treatments were included, a pair-fed control and a negative control. Control poults pair-fed with the inoc poults grew more rapidly (P less than .01) than inoc poults. The depression in feed consumption due to inoculation accounted for only 54% of the growth depression. Poults inoculated with a suspension prepared from intestines obtained from healthy poults (negative control) performed similarly to controls. Thus, the adverse effects of the SS-inoculum were due to an agent(s) that was present int he intestines of SS-affected poults but not in intestines of healthy poults.