Poultry gizzard

No data are available on copper toxicity to avian wildlife. Experiments with domestic poultry show that copper accumulates in livers of mallard ducklings at dietary concentrations as low as 15 mg/kg DW ration that gizzard histopathology and a reduction in weight gain of chicks (Gallus sp.) occur at 250 to 350 mg Cu/kg DW ration and that growth of turkey poults is improved at... 

Poupoulis, C. and L.S. Jensen. 1976. Effects of high dietary copper on gizzard integrity of the chick. Poultry Sci. 55 113-121. 

It is used in swine in a single oral administration with feed at a dosage of 7.5-35 mg/kg bw for control of internal and external parasites. Although its anthelminthic spectfum is acceptable in cattle (38) and sheep (39), dichlorvos does not have FDA approval for use in ruminants due to its narrow safety margin. Also, dichlorvos cannot be used in poultry because birds accumulate the resin pellets in their gizzard. Dichlorvos is generally toxic to animals, and it is less toxic via the dermal and oral routes than by parenteral routes. Moreover, dichlorvos is a suspect carcinogen. 

Gross necropsy lesions of a selenium deficiency are identical to those of a vitamin E deficiency (NRC, 1994) and include exudative diathesis and myopathy of the gizzard. Paleness and dystrophy of the skeletal muscles (white muscle disease) are also common. The incidence and degree of selenium deficiency may be increased by environmental stress. Selenium is generally included in trace mineral premixes. Common sources for supplementation of poultry diets are sodium selenite and sodium selenate. Selenium yeast is also used in conventional diets. 

ALEGTORIA - is a gem mentioned by Pliny (1. 37, c. 10), which is like crystal or clear water and he shows that this crystalline substance, which is as large as a horse bean, is found in the gizzard of poultry, or, as Albertus has it, of a castrated cock. It is found after the bird has attained the age of four years. It renders the possessor rich and of warlike aspect. And they report that Milo of Crotona was made invincible by such an Alectoria. It conciliates girls and quenches thirst. See also Solinus, etc. 

Poultry require grit in their gizzard to help them grind their food. Closely graded limestone and shell products in the size range 3 to 10 mm are generally specified. 

Poultry have been found to be highly resistant to the effects of vomitoxin. A diet containing sufficient naturally contaminated corn to provide a 50 ppm vomitoxin concentration was fed to 6 day old broiler cockerels for 6 days with no effect on growth or feed consumption. The only observed effects of the contaminated diet were plaques in the mouth and gizzard erosion (19). When a diet containing 15 ppm pure vomitoxin was fed to broilers for 6 weeks, no deleterious effects were noticed (20). 

Poultry s lack of teeth requires the consumed feed to be temporarily stored in the gizzard, which reduces the feed particle size for better digestion. Poultry have a complex foregut composed of three sections (crop, proventriculus, and gizzard) that replace a conventional stomach, and a relatively simple intestinal tract. The... 

Gizzerosine (Fig. 9) is a toxin obtained firom brown fish meal, which causes gizzard erosion or ulceration in chicks at a level of 2.2 ppm in the diet. This toxicity results in a serious disease named black vomit, notorious in poultry production. Resolution of ( )-a-aminoadipic acid via its A -chloroacetyl derivative ( )-ll by aminoacylase yielded (5)-12, which was converted to crystalline dihydrochloride of (5)-gizzerosine [41]. (R)-Giz-zerosine was biologically inactive. 

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