INFLUENCE OF DIETARY MANIPULATION ON THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF MOLD-CONTAMINATED BARLEY FED TO GROWING CHICKS

The effects of feeding Penicillium cyclopium and Aspergillus flavus contaminated barley on Leghorn chicks were examined. Mycotoxin screening determined the mold-contaminated barley to be free of suspect toxins. This study examined the hypothesis that the effects of mold-contaminated barley are due to a deficiency of readily digestible nutrients, or some other factor. Chicks were fed diets containing either mold-free barley, a non-nutritive bulk (cellulose) plus mold-free barley, or a mold-contaminated barley (7% mold), in combination with low (2%) or high (10%) dietary tallow and supplemental starch (0 and 15%). High fat and starch supplementation both resulted in slightly higher weight gains for birds fed the mold-contaminated barley and cellulose containing diets, but the maximal improvement values were still more than 60 and 20%, respectively, lower than birds given a 6.7% tallow reference diet. Neither fat nor starch affected feed consumption. Birds fed the cellulose diet performed about 100% better than those given mold-contaminated barley, despite a theoretically lesser concentration of available nutrients in the former. Results of this study suggest the presence of some unidentified factor(s) in mold-contaminated. Key words: Mold-contaminated barley, mycotoxin, chick performance, starch, fat