Responses of Turkey Poults to Virginiamycin as Influenced by Litter Condition and Experimentally Induced Stunting Syndrome

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of virginiamycin (VM, 22 mg/kg of diet) on performance of uninfected (CON) turkey poults and those infected (INO) with stunting syndrome and reared on used woodshavings (Experiment 1) or on clean or used woodshavings (Experiment 2). Virginiamycin improved BW (P less than .001) and feed efficiency (FE) (P less than .05) from 1 to 29 days of age, irrespective of type of litter or disease condition. The increase in BW induced by VM, however, was greatest when poults were kept on used litter, resulting in significant (P less than .05) VM by litter interaction. Induced stunting syndrome depressed BW (P less than .01) to 29 days of age and impaired FE from 1 to 9 days of age (P less than .05) and from 5 to 9 days of age (P less than .01) in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Virginiamycin did not prevent early adverse effects of INO on BW and FE, but facilitated notable recovery of INO poults relative to INO poults not fed VM. Virginiamycin increased specific activities of maltase and sucrase of the jejunum of CON poults in Experiments 1 and 2; in Experiment 2, this VM effect was evident irrespective of type of litter. Maltase-specific activity and sucrase were reduced by INO (P less than or equal to .05 and P less than or equal to .01 in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively) and VM did not modify this effect. The maltase and sucrase data suggest that VM improved BW and FE of CON poults, in part, by helping to maintain digestive and absorptive functions of the small intestine during the early growth period, but, in the instance of INO poults, VM was not effective in this regard.

Growth and Digestive Function of Turkeys Surviving the Poult Enteritis And Mortality Syndrome

“…Inoculation of turkey poults with an SS inoculum depressed weight gain (P < 0.001) and impaired the utilization of feed per gain (P < 0.001) up to 9 d (Angel et al, 1990a) and 14 d (Angel et al, 1990b) of age. However, Angel et al (1992) also found that feeding a complex diet containing fish meal and sunflower meal as the main protein sources eliminated the adverse effects of SS inoculation on performance traits compared with SS effects on poults fed a corn and soybean meal diet. This observation demonstrated the potential dietary effect on the manifestation of an enteric disease.…”

“…Even though dietary supplementation of antibiotics and other additives may favorably alter gut microflora and reduce mortality due to enteric disease, they have little effect on alleviating the stunted growth of those birds surviving an enteric disease (Al-Batshan et al, 1992), including PEMS (Ferket, 1995). Irreparable damage to the gut often occurs during enteric disease.…”