Deoxynivalenol-contaminated wheat in swine diets.

Two studies were conducted using Fusarium graminearum-infected (scabby) wheat containing 6.8 ppm deoxynivalenol (DON), commonly called vomitoxin, substituted for normal wheat in starter pig diets to give varying levels of DON. After 3 wk on experimental treatments, one-half of the pigs in trial one were sacrificed to evaluate the effects of DON on heart, kidney, spleen and liver. Analyses for DON residues in these tissues were also performed. The remaining 16 pigs were placed on a conventional diet for 4 wk to evaluate effects of DON on subsequent animal performance. A different sample of scabby wheat containing 4.9 ppm of DON was substituted for sorghum grain in growing-finishing pig diets to give varying concentrations of DON. At the end of the 42-d feeding period, eight pigs were slaughtered to evaluate the effects of DON on selected tissues. Results of the three trials suggest that feed intake was reduced when DON concentrations in the swine diets neared or exceeded 1 ppm. No apparent signs of disease, including vomiting, were observed in experimental animals. Histological evaluation revealed no significant lesions or abnormalities related to DON ingestion in tissues examined. Traces of DON (8 to 28 ppb, wet weight) were found in kidney, liver, spleen and heart of starter pigs consuming the diets containing DON up to time of slaughter. No DON was found in tissues of growing-finishing pigs that were withdrawn from feed about 12 h before slaughter.

Examination of the development of chicken embryos following exposure to magnetic fields.

1. Studies of effects produced by magnetic fields on developing chickens have been reviewed. 2. Compilations of the variety of field conditions utilized, and of the consequences of the tested conditions on the embryo, are reported in tabular form for comparison. 3. The developmental consequences, if any, of the fields are also reported, as are those aspects of timing and morphogenesis deemed important in this area. 4. More recent information on biochemical changes in embryos exposed to magnetic fields is included and given weight as a growing aspect of this scientific field of study.

Development of chicken embryos in a pulsed magnetic field.

Six independent experiments of common design were performed in laboratories in Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the United States of America. Fertilized eggs of domestic chickens were incubated as controls or in a pulsed magnetic field (PMF); embryos were then examined for developmental anomalies. Identical equipment in each laboratory consisted of two incubators, each containing a Helmholtz coil and electronic devices to develop, control, and monitor the pulsed field and to monitor temperature, relative humidity, and vibrations. A unipolar, pulsed, magnetic field (500-microseconds pulse duration, 100 pulses per s, 1-microT peak density, and 2-microseconds rise and fall time) was applied to experimental eggs during 48 h of incubation. In each laboratory, ten eggs were simultaneously sham exposed in a control incubator (pulse generator not activated) while the PMF was applied to ten eggs in the other incubator. The procedure was repeated ten times in each laboratory, and incubators were alternately used as a control device or as an active source of the PMF. After a 48-h exposure, the eggs were evaluated for fertility. All embryos were then assayed in the blind for development, morphology, and stage of maturity. In five of six laboratories, more exposed embryos exhibited structural anomalies than did controls, although putatively significant differences were observed in only two laboratories (two-tailed Ps of .03 and less than .001), and the significance of the difference in a third laboratory was only marginal (two-tailed P = .08). When the data from all six laboratories are pooled, the difference in incidence of abnormalities in PMF-exposed embryos (approximately 25 percent) and that of controls (approximately 19 percent), although small, is highly significant, as is the interaction between incidence of abnormalities and laboratory site (both Ps less than .001). The factor or factors responsible for the marked variability of inter-laboratory differences are unknown.