TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF DIETARY FUMONISIN B1 ON SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY OF GROWING PIGS

Twenty-four male Large White weanling pigs of 8-9 weeks of age averaging 6.94±0.26 kg were used to evaluate the effect of dietary fumonisin B1 (FB1) on serum biochemical parameters. The animals were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments containing 0.2, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 mg FB1/kg constituting the control, diets 1, 2 and 3 respectively, in a 6-month feeding trial. Blood sample was collected from the ear vein of each animal at the end of the feeding trial for biochemical analyses. Animals fed the control diet and diet 1 had significantly (P<0.05) higher serum total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations as well as the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities and serum cholesterol concentrations than those on diets 2 and 3, while the serum triglyceride concentrations of the animals fed diets 1 and 2 were significantly (P<0.05) lower than those fed diet 3 but significantly (P