Mycotoxicosis caused by the combination of aflatoxin and fumonisin in broiler chickens: a clinical case

A poisoning occurred in Ross line broiler chicken during a palatability test with cactus fiber as an additive. A group of 100 broilers was divided into four subgroups of 25 to add 0, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of fiber per kg of feed. In the second week the birds show differences in size, ruffled plumage, cannot walk, birds in lateral and dorsal recumbency, pedaling, lethargy, ataxia, tremors, pale skin and mucous membranes, cyanosis in crest and chin, variable mortality between groups but birds that received 400 mg/kg of fiber showed fewer signs. In the necropsy there are no findings, studies are carried out to rule out Influenza and Newcastle, corn, soybean paste and feed are grown to determine the presence of fungi. At the fifth week the birds have green pasty diarrhea, jaw dislocation, sagging in the beak, frontal and parietal bones of the skull, osteomalacia, discomfort, clicking in bones during handling, blood serum clots, aflatoxin poisoning is diagnosed, Another food is given and the signs slowly disappear. Penicilium, Alternaria and Fusarium spp fungi were identified in food, the content of aflatoxin and fumonisin was 5 and 1.85 parts per billion. It is concluded that the interaction aflatoxin with fumonisin at the doses reported in broiler chickens causes a nervous condition but the signs decrease with 400 mg/kg of cactus fiber in the feed.