Evaluation of subchronic dietary fumonisin B1 on nutrient digestibility and growth performance of rats

Fumonisin B1 (FB1), a toxin produced by Fusarium verticillioides (Fusarium moniliforme) and other Fusarium species which grow on maize worldwide, has been documented to cause various physiological responses in animals. Thirty-nine female Wistar rats randomly assigned to three treatment groups were used to assess the effects of dietary FB1 on nutrient utilization and growth performance. Each group received one of the three diets containing 0.20, 10.0 and 20.0 mg FB1/kg constituting diets 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The animals were weighed weekly and proximate chemical compositions of the diets and the faecal samples collected from the rats on each diet were determined using standard methods. Dietary FB1 significantly (P < 0.05) influenced nutrient digestibility, feed intake, feed conversion efficiency and relative weight gain. Rats fed diets 2 and 3 had relative weight gains of 87.2 and 66.2% of the rats fed diet 1, respectively. Rats on diet 1 were about 104.5 and 160.6% more efficient in feed conversion compared to those on diets 2 and 3, respectively. Dietary exposure to FB1 at a concentration of about 10 mg/kg or higher for a period of 35 days is a potential health risk that reduced nutrient utilization by adversely affecting proper nutrient digestion, absorption and/or metabolism, resulting in poor growth rates in Wistar rats. This study revealed that adverse effects of FB1 on nutrient digestibility and utilization play a significant contributory role in poor growth performance usually associated with animals exposed to diets containing FB1.Key words: Fumonisin B1, growth performance, mycotoxin, nutrient digestibility, rats

Effects of dietary fumonisin on organ characteristics and some serum biochemical parameters of bucks

The effects of dietary fumonisin on weight change; organ weights and serum biochemistry of male rabbits were investigated in a 5-week feeding trial. Thirty individually-caged crossbred male rabbits of about 25 weeks of age, and an average initial weight of 1.53kg, were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments comprising a control (containing 0.35mg fumonisin / kg) and two test diets (containing 12.30 and 24.60mg fumonisin / kg) constituting diets 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Each dietary treatment had 10 replicates of 1 buck each. Results showed that the dry matter intake (DMI) and the relative change in body weight were significantly ( p 0.05) lower than those fed diets 1 and 2, while the relative bodyweight change for animals on diet 3 being 25.90 and 27.12% of those on diets 1 and 2, respectively. The epididymal and perirenal fat (adipose capsule) weights as well as their relative values were also significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by the dietary fumonisin levels, with the relative weights of the epididymides and the perirenal fat of the animals on diet 3 were 76.83 and 41.80% of those placed on diet 1, respectively, compared with 95.12 and 90.98% recorded by animals on diet 2 for the respective parameters. The serum sodium, potassium, chloride and cholesterol however, tend to increase with increased dietary fumonisin. The study demonstrated that bucks exposed to dietary fumonisin concentration of about 12.30mg/kg diet would suffer depressed weight gain and decreased epididymal and perirenal fat weights and increased cholesterol concentration while dietary fumonisin above 12.30mg/kg would result in reduced DMI. Keywords: Buck; fumonisin; serum biochemistry; epididymal; perirenal fat weightsMoor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 7 (1&2) 2006 pp. 28-3

Effects of feeding Fusarium Verticillioides culture material containing known levels of fumonisin B1on growth performance and egg quality traits of laying hens.

The implications of fumonisin B1, a secondary metabolite of Fusarium verticillioides(common contaminant of maize) on growth, pubertal development and egg quality traits of laying hens were studied in a 16-week experiment. Sixty Isa-Brown Pointof- lay( POL) birds with an average weight of 710.02g were divided into four groups with fifteen birds per group such that the weight per group range from 710.50-720.42g. Four nutritionally balanced test diets were prepared to contain 0.2, 5.2, 10.2 and 15.2 ppm of fumonisin B1 constituting diets 1(control), 2, 3 and 4 respectively by substituting ground corn cultured with F.verticillioides for ground autoclaved, noncultured corn in graded proportions. Each group was assigned to one experimental diet in a completely randomised design. Feed intake and body weight gain were determined daily. The age at which 50% of the POL birds on each experimental diets began to lay was considered their pubertal age. Ten eggs were randomly selected from each treatment every week for a period of five weeks for the assessment of egg quality traits .Results showed that the daily feed intake, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio of the laying hens were not adversely affected (P&gt;0.05) by the dietary fumonisin B1 concentrations. Statistically similar values(P&gt;0.05) were obtained for the pubertal age of the experimental birds across the treatments. The dietary mycotoxin also failed to exert any significant influence (P&gt;0.05) on the external and internal egg quality traits investigated except the yolk colour of laying hens on diet 4 which was statistically superior (P&lt;0.05) to those on diets 1,2 and 3, respectively. Although, egg cholesterol values tended to decrease while those of egg triglycerides apparently increased with increase in the levels of dietary fumonisin B1, the parameters were not significantly influenced(P&gt;0.05) by the dietary fumonisin concentrations. These results imply that laying birds can tolerate fumonisin B1 up to 15.2ppm in their diets without compromising the growth performance of the birds, nutritional and reproductive potentials of their eggs.Keywords: Egg quality, Fumonisin B1., Isa Brown point-of-lay, Pubertal development