OBSERVATIONS ON OCCURRENCE OF POULTRY DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH MYCOTOXINS IN FEED

A survey was conducted to find out the prevalence of poultry diseases associated with mycotoxins in feed i.e. secondary mycotoxin diseases a t different poultry farms (65) having a population of 24 1320 birds. M ycotoxins were present at 29 (78.3%) and 23 (82.1%) broiler and layer farms respectively. Secondary mycotoxin diseases were observed at 18 ( 62%) of 29 broiler farms, whereas, 22 (95.6%) of the 23 layer farms we re having secondary mycotoxin diseases. Inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) was the most common secondary mycotoxin infection present at the broi ler farms, whereas decrease in egg production was the predominant dise ase condition at the layer farms. The other concurrent conditional inf ections at the poultry farms were, infectious bursal disease (IBD), Ra nikhet disease, air sacculitis, salmonellosis, coccidiosis, rickets, a vitaminosis and respiratory problems. Different types of mycotoxins de tected from the poultry feeds at these farms in decreasing order of fr equency were aflatoxins, ochratoxins, citrinin and steringmatocystine, either found singly or in combination.