Efficacy of a Commercial Mycotoxin Adsorbent Against Low-Level Aflatoxin B ₁ and Fumonisin B ₁ Exposure in Broiler...

Mycotoxins cause significant economic losses in poultry. This study evaluates the ability of a commercial mycotoxin adsorbent to bind toxins in vitro and its effects at different concentrations on broiler chickens exposed to low levels of aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) and fumonisin B₁ (FB₁). In vitro study: standard solutions of AFB₁ and FB₁ were prepared in buffer solutions at pH 2 and 5. Two concentrations were used: AFB₁ (20 and 50 μg/kg) and FB₁ (5 and 20 mg/kg). An artificial intestinal fluid was used; pH was adjusted to 5 to simulate the intestinal environment. The adsorbent (1%) was incubated with 1 mL of the artificial intestinal fluid containing each toxin. After being centrifuged, they were analyzed by HPLC. In vivo study with the following four treatments (35 broiler chickens each) was included: G1 negative group: basal diet (BD) without mycotoxins or any adsorbent; G2 positive group: BD + AFB₁ (37.88 μg/kg) + FB₁ (7.3 mg/kg); G3 adsorbent group A1: BD + AFB₁ (54.85 μg/kg) + FB₁ (8.1 mg/kg) + 1 kg/t adsorbent; and G4 adsorbent group A2: BD + AFB₁ (40.9 μg/kg) + FB₁ (8.1 mg/kg) + 2 kg/t adsorbent. Over 42 days, productive parameters, carcass yield, intestinal histomorphometry, liver histopathology, liver fat content, volatile fatty acid concentration (VFA), and genotoxicity were evaluated. In vitro, the mycotoxin adsorbent shows a higher percentage of adsorption for AFB₁, followed by FB₁. In vivo, there were no significant differences in productive parameters overall (p ≥ 0.001), but G3 showed improved growth and feed conversion compared to G2. G2 exhibited liver damage, increased liver fat, and reduced intestinal villus length and crypt depth, which was moderated in G3/G4. G3 showed elevated VFA levels. Mycotoxins induced DNA damage, whereas A1/A2 provided protective effects. According to our results, we observed that the commercial adsorbent effectively adsorbs mycotoxins in vitro and improves the parameters evaluated in the chronic co-occurrence of AFB₁ and FB₁, depending on the dose used.