Table 4.

Recent studies of impacts of fusarium mycotoxins contaminated feed on poultry health.

Poultry Species, Age and Feeding Period	Sample Size (n)	Mycotoxins in Diet and Concentrations	Health Effects	References
Broiler chicken, 1 day old, fed for 56 days	360	Diet contaminated with fusarium mycotoxins: 0.14–9.7 mg/kg DON, 18–21.6 mg/kg fusaric acid (FA), 0.1–0.8 mg/kg ZEA	Body weight gain and feed intake of chickens decreased quadratically; blood erythrocyte count and serum uric acid concentration increased linearly and the serum lipase activity decreased linearly; a significant quadratic effect on serum albumin and γ-glutamyltransferase activity; blood hemoglobin and biliary IgA concentrations responded in significant linear and quadratic patterns. Efficiency of feed utilization was not affected.	[204]
Broiler chicken, 1 day old, fed for 42 days	360	Fusarium mycotoxin, 5.9–9.5 mg/kg DON, 19.1–21.4 mg/kg fusaric acid (FA), 0.4–0.7 mg/kg ZEA and 0.3–0.5 mg/kg 15AC-DON	Body weight gains and feed intake of chickens decreased linearly while peripheral blood monocytes decreased linearly with increasing toxin levels during the grower stage (21–42 days). Reduced B-cell count linearly but increased the T-cell count on day 28.	[205]
Turkey, 1 day old (n = 300), fed for 12 weeks	300	Blends of grains naturally contaminated with fusarium mycotoxins: DON, 15Ac-DON ZEA and FA	Turkey’s performance and some blood and immunological parameters were adversely affected by feedborne fusarium mycotoxins, and polymeric glucomannan mycotoxin adsorbent (GMA) prevented most of the adverse effects.	[206]
Male broilers at 7 d of age, fed for 5 weeks	75	Diets contain 0.265, 1.68 and 12.2 mg of DON/kg; 0.013, 0.145 and 1.094 mg ZEA/kg	The weekly weight gain decreased linearly (P ≤ 0.041) with increasing DON levels during the first 3 weeks of exposure; the weight gain was not influenced thereafter. As the levels of DON increased, the titers against Newcastle disease virus increased linearly during week 2 and week 4 of exposure, but decreased linearly (P = 0.006) during week 5 of exposure.	[207]
25-wk-old laying hens (n = 384)	384	Birds were fed diets contaminated with AFB and DON for a 6-wk phase followed by a 4-week recovery phase	Elevated relative liver and kidney weights (P < 0.05), reduced feed intake, egg production and egg weights (P < 0.05) at the medium and high toxin levels following the toxin phase, but the deactivation compound reduced (P < 0.05) relative liver and kidney weights following the recovery period.	[208]
One-day-old broiler chicks (n= 308), fed for 16 days	308	Diet contaminated by FBs (18.6 mg FB1 + FB2/kg feed)	A significant increase in the plasma sphinganine/sphingosine ratio. Villus height and crypt depth of ileum were significantly reduced. Changed the microbiota composition in the ileum. A higher percentage of chickens fed an FB-contaminated diet developed subclinical necrotic enteritis following C. perfringens challenge.	[209]
One-day-old broiler chicks, fed for 15 days	308	Diet 1: contaminated with 4.6 mg DON/kg. Diet 2: contaminated with 25.4 mg FB1 + FB2/kg. Diet 3: containing 4.3 mg DON and 22.9 mg FB1 + FB2/kg.	Changed the intestinal mucus layer and several intestinal epithelial antioxidative mechanisms. Both mycotoxins decreased gene expression of the intestinal zinc transporter (ZnT)-1 and regulated intracellular methionine homeostasis, which are both important for preserving the cell’s critical antioxidant activity.	[210]
SPF embryonated eggs aged 11 days	221	Inoculated into albumen with different doses of FB1, FB2 or DON, or their combinations.	Reduced hatching rate, caused gizzard ulcers and hemorrhagic lungs. Resulted in higher mortality of the progeny of breeder hens and higher mycotoxin residues in the gizzards and the lungs of the progenies.	[211]
5-day-old chickens, fed for 16 weeks	280	Diets containing 0, 2, 5 and 10 mg/kg of DON.	The diets contaminated with DON at 5 mg/kg caused heavier spleens, increase DON-induced cellular proliferation, apoptosis and DNA damage signals in the spleen. Expression of gatekeeper protein claudin-5 was increased in jejunum of female birds but decreased in that of male birds.	[212]
Broiler chickens	70	Five groups of chickens fed control diets (mycotoxin free), the DON diets (5 mg/kg), the FB diet (20 mg FB1 + FB2/kg), ZEA diet (0.5 mg/kg) and diets contained 5, 20, and 0.5 mg/kg of DON, FB1 + FB2, and ZEA.	No difference in performances between groups that could be attributed to FBs, the relative weight of organs, biochemistry, histopathology, intestinal morphometry, indicators of oxidative damage and markers of testicle toxicity. Significantly increased sphinganine and SA to SO ratio in broilers fed FB-added diets.	[213]
Turkeys of 55-day old fed experimental diet for 14 days	70	Five groups of turkeys fed with control diets, the DON diets (5 mg/kg), the FB diet (20 mg FB1 + FB2/kg), ZEA diet (0.5 mg/kg) and diets with DON, FB1 + FB2, and ZEA (5, 20, and 0.5 mg/kg of), respectively.	Increased the SA to SO ratio in the liver of turkeys fed diets containing FB, but had no apparent toxication symptoms. No interactions/synergies among DON, FB, and ZON.	[214]
One-day-old chicks used for each trial (n = 2200)	2200	Feed contaminated with low levels of mycotoxins (below EU’s regulatory limits).	A strong positive relationship was observed between broilers’ feed efficiency and DON (R2 = 0.85), FBs (R2 = 0.53), DAS (R2 = 0.86), ZEA (R2 = 0.92), ENNs (R2 = 0.60) and BEV (R2 = 0.73). The mixture of ZEA, DON and FBs (p = 0.01, R2 = 0.84), and the mixture of ZEA, DON and DAS (p = 0.001, R2 = 0.91) had significant interactive effect on the birds’ feed efficiency.	[215]
Day-old male cobb chicks (1600 birds, 64 pens, 25 birds/pen)	1600	Broilers were fed control diet with minimal mycotoxins and formulated diet containing moderate levels of fusarium mycotoxins (MT).	Compared with control, the diet containing moderate fusarium mycotoxins reduced body weight (BW), increased feed efficiency on days 35 and 42 with increased duodenal crypt depth and reduced goblet cells, and poultry production efficiency.	[64]