HEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL-STUDIES IN BROILER CHICKS FED OCHRATOXIN AND INOCULATED WITH INCLUSION-BODY HEPATITIS-VIRUS, SINGLY AND IN CONCURRENCE

Day-old broiler chicks, which had been shown to be negative for matern al antibodies against inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) virus and for vir al antigen in cloacal swabs, were divided into four groups of 20 chick s each. One group was fed ochratoxin-A at 0.5 ppm from 3 to 38 days of age, another group was inoculated with 1 ml of IBH virus containing 1 0(6.5) EID50 per 0.2 ml. A third group was given both ochratoxin-A and infected with IBH virus. The fourth group served as the control. Anae mia was observed in all three treated groups but the changes were more pronounced in the combined group. The biochemical changes also sugges ted a cumulative damaging effect by ochratoxin-A and IBH virus.