EFFECTS OF DIETARY FUMONISIN B-1-CONTAINING CULTURE MATERIAL, DEOXYNIVALENOL-CONTAMINATED WHEAT, OR THEIR COMBINATION ON GROWING BARROWS

Objective-To examine the toxic effects of fumonisin B-1 (FB1)-containi ng culture material and deoxynivalenol (DON)-contaminated wheat diets on barrows. Animals-24, 7-week-old crossbred barrows allotted to 4 equ al groups of 3 replicates of 2 barrows/replicate. Procedure-Barrows we re fed diets for 28 days that were formulated as follows. no additiona l FCM or DON/kg of feed (control); 100 mg FB1/kg of feed; 5 mg DON/kg of feed; or 100 mg FB1 plus 5 mg DON/kg of feed. Body weight and feed consumption were monitored weekly. On day 28, blood samples were obtai ned for serum biochemical, hematologic, and immunologic measurements. On day 29, barrows were euthanatized and necropsies were performed. Re sults-Analyzed mycotoxin content of diets were: none detected (control ); 47 mg of FB1/kg of feed (FB1, diet); 4.5 mg of DON/kg of feed (DON diet); and 56 mg of FB1 and 3.7 mg of DON/kg of feed (FB1 plus DON die t). Differences were detected among groups of barrows for clinical per formance, serum biochemical analytes, immunologic response, and histop athologic lesions. Conclusions-Combining FB1-containing material and D ON-contaminated wheat in the diets of growing barrows induces a more t oxic response than that induced by either toxin singly. For many varia bles, the response could be described as additive; however, for some v ariables, responses were interactive in a greater-than-additive manner . Clinical Relevance-Caution should be exercised when formulating swin e diets that could contain FB1 and DON, because the condition induced by their combination is more severe than that predicted for each mycot oxin's toxicity.