Evaluation of penicillic acid for toxicity in broiler chickens

Penicillic acid is a mycotoxin produced by various fungi. It may occur in high concentrations in corn and can also be produced concomitantly with other mycotoxins in poultry feed. This mycotoxin was evaluated for its toxicity in broiler chickens by feeding graded concentrations (0, 100, 200, and 400 microgram/g of diet) to 4 groups of 10 birds per treatment. No significant (P greater than .05) effects were measured on growth rate, feed conversion, relative size of pancreas, spleen, liver, heart, bursa, or kidney or on hemoglobin, packed cell volume, liver lipid, plasma protein, or glucose. The only significant effects were a slight reduction in the size of the proventriculus and gizzard at dose levels of 200 and 400 microgram/g. Neither the salt nor lactone forms of penicillic acid had any detectable effect. The acute oral LD50 for the sodium salt form was 92 +/- 9 mg/kg. These data suggest that penicillic acid by itself has little toxicity (less than 1% of that of aflatoxin) in chickens.