This work was conduced to determine the performance parameters of initial-phase turkey poults fed 7 different doses of aflatoxins in the diet. Three hundred thirty-six 1-d-old male turkey poults were used in this research. Turkeys were divided into 7 treatments according to aflatoxin doses (T1 = control; T2 = 20 ppb aflatoxins; T3 = 50 ppb; T4 = 100 ppb; T5 = 200 ppb; T6 = 500 ppb; T7 = 1,000 ppb). Birds were killed in 2 periods: half of them after 21 d of experiment and the remaining birds after 42 d of experiment. In both periods, the evaluated parameters were as follows: feed consumption, BW, relative weights of organs (liver, gizzard, heart, and bursa of Fabricius) and meat (breast and thighs), and clinical biochemistry parameters (total plasmatic proteins, albumin, uric acid, cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase). At 21 d of experiment, both feed consumption and BW were significantly affected by the aflatoxins present in the diet. Nevertheless, gizzard relative weight, total plasmatic proteins, and cholesterol levels were also affected. At the 42-d evaluation, besides feed consumption and BW, gizzard and liver relative weights and cholesterol levels were also affected by the presence of aflatoxins in the diet. Turkey poults are very sensitive to aflatoxin poisoning, because they are at least 3 to 6 times more sensitive to these contaminants than broilers.

Toxoplasma gondii-a protozoan belonging to the subphylum Apicomplexa (Adl et al., 2012) and family Sarcocystidae-is the causal agent of toxoplasmosis, an important and widespread zoonotic disease. The protozoan life cycle involves domestic and wild felids as definitive hosts and a number of mammals, including humans, as intermediate hosts. Modes of T. gondii transmission to human include (a) ingestion of sporulated oocysts present in contaminated water or food; (b) ingestion of bradyzoite-containing cysts present

[FI], and feed conversion rate [FCR]) of broiler chickens. Significant effects of FB were observed on BW and FI (reduced), on RWL, TPP, Ca, ALT, AST, GGT, Chol, and Tri (increased) at both 14 and 28 days evaluations. In addition, significant increase was observed on FCR, Alb, P, SA:SO, and CRP and significant reduction in UA, VH, and V:C only at the 28 days evaluation. Significant histological lesions were observed on liver and kidney of FB inoculated broilers at 14 and 28 days. Those results show that FB has a significant effect on biological and histological variables and on performance of broiler chickens.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi estudar os efeitos das aflatoxinas sobre o desempenho e plumagem de frangos de corte. Foram utilizados 240 pintos machos, alimentados de 1 a 42 dias de idade com ração ad libitum sem aflatoxinas (grupo controle) e contaminada com 3mg de aflatoxinas/kg de ração (grupo tratado). As aves foram analisadas duas vezes ao dia em relação ao seu desenvolvimento. O consumo de ração e peso dos animais foram avaliados ao final de cada fase de criação (21, 35 e 42 dias). Ao final do experimento, realizaram-se as avaliações patológicas, a pesagem das penas e a avaliação dos seus aminoácidos. As aves do grupo tratado apresentaram sinais caracteristicos de intoxicação por aflatoxinas, como desuniformidade da estatura, redução no consumo de ração e ganho de peso e alterações microscópicas e macroscópicas em órgãos e tecidos. Observou-se que o coração e o fígado das aves intoxicadas apresentaram um incremento significativo no peso médio relativo, a massa de penas foi reduzida significativamente (33,8%) e não houve alterações na concentração e na composição dos aminoácidos, apesar do baixo desempenho dos animais intoxicados.