Standard Practice for Conducting Subacute Dietary Toxicity Tests with Avian Species

1.1 This practice describes a procedure for determining the subacute dietary toxicity of a test substance administered to birds in their daily diet. The LC50 value time to mortality and slope of the dose response curve may also be derived.

1.2 This practice is applicable to substances that can be mixed uniformly into the diet.

1.3 This practice is intended primarily to be used with the young of the following species: northern bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus), Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Other species or age groups, for example, with wild-trapped birds, may be used with appropriate husbandry modifications to the practice.

1.4 This standard is used routinely to address avian regulatory testing requirements. Modifications to the procedures described in this standard have been proposed and are being evaluated to better address the needs of the latest risk assessment procedures. Specifically, the latest procedures call for individual bird feed consumption measurements so that a more precise dose can be determined. While such procedures may replace procedures described in the current standard, there is no certainty that the newest procedures will work as anticipated, and the completion of validation is not complete. Therefore, the current guideline has utility prior to validation and acceptance of a modified standard.

This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. For specific precautionary statements see Section 6.