PS4-10. Effect of Corn Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles Contaminated with Varying Levels of Deoxynivalenol on Growth Performance and Health of Broilers

Abstract Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a mycotoxin found in cereal grains, including corn dried distillers’ grains with solubles (cDDGS). Exposure to DON can negatively affect broiler health and growth performance; however, severity depends on DON concentration in the feed. This study investigated effects of varying dietary DON levels on broiler growth performance and intestinal health. A total of 1,088 one-day-old male chicks were allocated to 44 floor pens. From day 0 to 13, birds were fed a diet containing 7% uncontaminated cDDGS to acclimate before trial initiation. At day 14, pens were assigned to one of 4 dietary treatments with DON levels: Low (0.3 ppm), Mid-low (1.8 ppm), Mid-high (2.5 ppm), and High (3.2 ppm). All treatments included 15% cDDGS with differing DON concentrations. Birds and feed were weighed to assess growth performance and feed efficiency at 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 25 days after DON exposure (ADE). At day 7 and 25 ADE, one bird per pen was euthanized for intestinal weight and histology. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using PROC GLIMMIX in SAS. Orthogonal polynomial contrasts tested linear and quadratic effects. Broilers fed High DON had greater (P 0.05) FCR on day 3 compared to Low, Mid-low, and Mid-high (1.54, 1.66, 1.55, 2.21 ± 0.15) in a quadratic response. Between day 7 and 21, there were no differences (P 0.05) in growth performance across treatments (BW 1452 ± 22.5 g; ADG 79 ± 2.39 g/d; ADFI 118.6 ± 3.4 g/d; FCR 1.53 ± 0.05). BW at day 25 was similar across treatments (2380.7 ± 31 g); however, there was a quadratic response (P 0.05) on day 25 to DON level for ADFI (186, 162, 182, 172 ± 5.7 g/d) and for the overall study period (131, 125, 131, 126 ± 2.4 g/d). A similar quadratic response (P 0.05) was observed for FCR at day 25 (2.64, 2.00, 2.48, 2.44 ± 0.12 g/d) and overall (1.76, 1.66, 1.75, 1.71 ± 0.03 g/d). There was a quadratic response (P 0.10) for the percentage of small intestine weight relative to body weight at day 7 ADE, with Low and High having the lowest percentages, and Mid-low and Mid-high having the highest values (3.6, 4.1, 3.9, 3.7 ± 0.13%). Jejunal villus height (710, 746, 873, 826 ± 0.03 µm) and villus/crypt ratio (3.3, 3.7, 4.2, 4.1 ± 0.35) increased linearly (P 0.05) with increasing DON, while crypt depth showed no difference (223, 204, 209, 206 ± 15.7 μm). Dietary DON at 3.2 ppm reduced growth performance within 3 days, but after a week, birds tolerated DON levels up to 3.2 ppm without negative effect on growth performance or intestinal health.