Abstract
The fungus Fusarium verticillioides produces fumonisins (FB1 and FB2), characterized by being the most frequently produced molecular forms and with greater toxicity. Fumonisin contamination is responsible for substantial losses during the meat production chain, so the safe levels of these compounds must be determined. The study was directed to establish safe levels of FB1 in poultry production; for this purpose, were used COBB 500® birds on experimental lots of infected corn during the 2015/2016 season in Brazil. The experimental group included 160 animals, divided into two groups: The T1 without fumonisin in the diet (control); and the T2 group in which corn was contaminated with 2.78 μg/g of fumonisin FB1. Histopathological effects of liver, heart, and small intestine, and zootechnical parameters were measured in birds treated. We found that there were no significant differences between the birds treated and untreated after 21 days of exposure to each treatment; F-values > P-values (P<0,05) for feed intake and weekly weight gain. Taken together, our data showed that the concentration evaluated is safe in poultry and will contribute to the design of future clinical studies.