Effect of feed-borne pollution with some mycotoxin combinations on broiler chicks.

Broiler chicks were divided into five groups and fed starter mash from the first day after hatching. The first group feed (control) was mycotoxin free, whereas the mycotoxins sterigmatocystin (350 ppb) and aflatoxin B1 (100 ppb) were added to the second group diet, patulin (100 ppb) and aflatoxin B1 (100 ppb) to the third group feed, penicillic acid (850 ppb) and aflatoxin B1 (100 ppb) to the fourth group, and aflatoxins B2a (0.9 ppb) +G2 alpha (25 ppb) +M1 (0.9 ppb) +M2 (1 ppb) to the fifth group. This contaminated feeding lasted for four weeks followed by another four weeks as recovery period during which all groups fed finishing mash without mycotoxins. At the end of the experiment, the chickens of groups two, three, four and five were significantly lower in body weight and feed conversion and reflected higher mortality rates than those of the control group.