[Experiments to elucidate the role of Aspergillus fungi in the hemorrhagic syndrome in poultry].

Attempts were made to assess the role played by fungi of the Aspergillus genus in the occurrence of the hemorrhagic syndrome in birds. Groups of test birds were given continuously a forage mixture containing 30 per cent of ground nut cake which had aflatoxin at the rate of 1.5 ppm, a forage mixture 30 per cent of which was preliminarily contaminated with spores of Asp. fumigatus or Asp. flavus, and subtoxic amounts of nonpurified aflatoxin. Growth retardation was established along with the development of slightly manifested morphologic changes in some organs of the test birds. No morphologic picture characteristic of a hemorrhagic syndrome was found. In the authors' opinion the toxic Aspergillus fungi entering the body of the birds via the forage were not the sole factor contributing to the outbreak of such a syndrome.