The Effects of Vomitoxin and Feed Intake on the Performance and Blood Characteristics of Young Pigs

Abstract

Thirty barrows (average weight 8.4 kg) were used in a 3-wk experiment to determine the effects of the ingestion of vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol)-contaminated feed on performance and blood chemistry. The barrows were assigned randomly to consume either: 1) a control diet (C), fed ad libitum, 2) a vomitoxin contaminated diet (V; 10.5 ppm), fed ad libitum, or 3) a vomitoxin contaminated pair-fed at levels equal to those consumed by V animals (PF). The V and PF pigs had similar daily gains (.19 vs .20 kg) and feed intakes (.40 and .39 kg), but both of these were lower (P<.01) than those for the C-fed pigs (.38 kg daily gain and .72 kg feed intake). The V-fed pigs had lower (P<.05) hematocrit, hemoglobin, serum glucose and serum phosphorus and tended to have lower serum calcium (P<.06) than C-fed pigs. The V-fed pigs had higher (P<.05) hemoglobin and tended to have higher (P<.08) serum phosphorus and lower (P<.07) serum calcium than PF animals. There was a high total- and free-bilirubin concentration in serum of C- and V-fed pigs in the last sampling period (3-wk), which may be due to fasting and not cholestasis. No differences among treatments were observed in any of the other blood parameters. These results suggest that the differences in animal performance and blood parameters observed between control-and vomitoxin-fed pigs are mainly due to differences in feed intake. Copyright © 1985. American Society of Animal Science. Copyright 1985 by American Society of Animal Science.