The present study was executed to investigate the embryotoxic effect of in-ovo inoculation of aflatoxigenic fungal extracts isolated from poultry feed and its ingredients. A total of 12 aflatoxigenic fungal isolates were randomly selected for determination of their embryo toxicity potential. The extract of each fungal isolate containing 10 and 100 ng/egg aflatoxin (AF), from each isolate were separately injected through chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) route into 12 embryos (96 hours old). The parameters studied included embryo mortality, hatchability, body weight, relative organ weights, gross and histopathological lesions. A variable degree of mortality and hatchability was observed in embryos administered same dose of AF produced by different isolates. However, calculations based upon the concentration of AFB1 in each dose revealed high mortality in embryos receiving higher amount of AFB1 compared with those receiving lower amount of AFB1. Embryonic mortality was 25.00 and 66.67% in embryos which received 0.00 and 9.83 ng/egg AFB1, respectively. In one case, however, 16.67% mortality was present in embryos which received 2.19 ng/egg AFB1. Similarly in AF 100 group, embryonic mortality reached 100% in embryos receiving above 90 ng/egg AFB1. For eggs receiving AFB1 between 78.83 and 84.64 ng/egg, morality was 50 and 83.3%, respectively. All the treatment groups had significantly higher relative weight of liver and kidney than control. Fatty change and individual cell necrosis were significantly higher in AF-100 compared with AF-10 group. In kidneys, congestion and tubular necrosis were significantly higher in AF-100 than that in AF-10 group. Microscopically, liver and kidneys showed severe changes in chicks produced from eggs of high dose groups compared with those of low dose groups suggesting a dose related response. In conclusion inoculation of aflatoxigenic fungal extracts leads to high embryonic mortality and embryonic toxicity.

Key words: Aflatoxin, Bodyweight, Congestion, Embryotoxicity, Fungal extract, Kidney, Liver