Sensibilidade de perus (Meleagridis gallopavo) às diferentes doses de aflatoxinas na dieta

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the performance of turkey poults fed crescent doses of aflatoxins in the diet during the first 42 days of life. Three hundred and thirty six one-day-old, male turkey poults were randomly divided into seven treatments, as follows: T1= control; T2= 20 ppb of total aflatoxins; T3= 50 ppb; T4= 100 ppb; T5= 200 ppb; T6= 500 ppb; T7= 1,000 ppb. Turkeys were kept in cages and euthanized in two periods: half the birds at 21 days of experiment and the remaining birds at 42 days of experiment. Parameters evaluated were feed consumption, body weight, organs relative weight (liver, heart, gizzard and bursa of Fabricius), relative weight of meat (thighs and breast), and clinical biochemical parameters (total plasmatic proteins, albumin, uric acid, cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline Phosfatase). At 21 days of age, both feed consumption (R= -0.98) and body weight (R= -0.85) were significantly affected (P=0.00) by the presence of aflatoxins in the diet. Relative weight of gizzard (R=0.50), total proteins (R= -0.87), and cholesterol (R= -0.73) levels were also significantly affected by the aflatoxins present in the diet. At 42 days of age feed consumption (R= -0.96), body weight (R= -0.84), relative weight of gizzard (R=0.64), relative weight of liver (R=0.63), and cholesterol levels (R=0.71) were all significantly affected by the presence of aflatoxins in the diet. These results show that aflatoxins interfere significantly in several productive and biological parameters in turkey poults.