Amelioration of aflatoxicosis through a bio-technologically derived aflatoxin degrading commercial product in broilers

Aflatoxins (af) are secondary fungal metabolites which severely depress performance in poultry. a trial was undertaken on broiler chicken to study the effects of af (500 μg/kg) and to assess a biotechnologically derived product (btp) comprised of culture extracts of toxin degrading microbes,antifungal agents,mos and bio-antioxidants (destroxr) over hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (hscas) to combat aflatoxicosis. the experimental design consisted of t1-basal diet; t2-af (500 μg/kg); t3-af (500 μg/kg) + hscas (1 kg/ton); t4 and t5-af (500 μg/kg) with btp 200 and 400 g/ton,respectively. the 42 day study revealed that,addition of neither hscas nor btp did significantly improve body weight gain and feed intake over t2. however,significantly (p<0.05) improved feed conversion ratio was observed in t4 (2.017) against t2 (2.150). all serum biochemical parameters were significantly altered in t2 in comparison to t1. a significant improvement was observed in total protein,albumin and alt in t3 and t4 groups as compared to t2. an improvement in dressing percentage (69.63% v/s 66.76%) and relative weight of liver,heart and spleen were observed in t4 in comparison to t2,while in t3 the dressing percentage and relative weight of liver and spleen were increased. higher mortality was observed in t2 and it was significantly (p<0.05) reduced in t3 and t4. in conclusion,af (500 μg/kg) found to significantly depress bird performance and addition of btp @ 200 g/ton was found to moderately alleviate toxicity,while hscas and higher btp level did not show any ameliorative effects. © 2015 pvj.