Thirteen of 64 turkeys on a commercial turkey farm in Daqing exhibited neurological signs that included backward staggering,incoordination,generalized weakness,and sitting on their hocks with head retracted backward.Eight of the birds showing such signs were found dead.Two of these turkeys were necropsied,and no significant gross lesions were observed.Major histopathological lesions were found in the cerebellum and included multiple malacic foci in association with neuropil rarefaction and astrogliosis within the white matter of folia.In addition,the hepatic vitamin E level of one turkey was determined at the High Pressure Liqid Chromatography Laboratory in Life Science and Biotechnique Research Center of Northeast Agriculture University.(NEAU-HPLCL)to be 14 61 μg/g dry weight.This vitamin E level was in the lower percentile(35%)of 30 turkey liver samples examined at NEAU-HPLCL.A diagnosis of vitamin E-associated encephalomalacia was made based on clinical signs,gross and histological lesions,and liver vitamin E levels.
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