Amelioration of mycotoxicosis in chicken by dietary inclusion of bentonite, distillery sludge and milk thistle

Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate the protective/ameliorative ability of different adsorbing agents like bentonite clay (BC), distillery sludge (DS) and milk thistle (MT) against ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) induced toxicopathological, serum biochemical, immunological, antioxidant and tissue residual alterations in broilers. For this purpose, a series of experiments were conducted in which OTA was used at the rates of 0.15, 0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg feed while different adsorbing agents were used at the rates of 5, 10 and 20 g/kg (Experiment 1-3). However, AFB1 was used at the rates of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.6 mg/kg feed while different adsorbing agents were used at the rates of 5 and 10 g/kg feed (Experiment 4-6). The parameters studied were toxicopathological parameters (clinical signs and behavioral parameters, mortality, FCR, body weight gain, relative organ weights of liver, kidney, spleen, bursa of Fabricius and thymus, gross lesions and its scoring and histopathological studies of liver, kidney, bursa of Fabricius and thymus, serum biochemical parameters (ALT, Urea, Creatinine, total protein, albumin and globulin), immunological parameters (antibody response to sheep RBCs, lymphoproliferative response to PHA-P and phagocytic index determined by carbon clearance assay), total antioxidant capacity of birds in liver, kidney, muscles and plasma) and tissue residue analysis in liver. Results of these experiments showed that feeding BC with OTA did not cause any amelioration in OTA induced alterations yet some improvement of these parameters was observed when compared with individual OTA groups however, feeding 5 and 10 g/kg DS ameliorated OTA induced alterations at 0.15 and 0.3 mg/kg OTA levels while partial amelioration was observed by DS at 1 mg/kg OTA level. Feeding 5 g/kg MT showed amelioration at 0.15 mg/kg OTA only while 10 and 20 g/kg MT showed ameliorations at all levels of OTA used. Regarding aflatoxicosis feeding 5 and 10 g/kg BC ameliorated 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg AFB1 induced deleterious effects while partial amelioration was observed when these BC levels were fed alone with 0.6 mg/kg AFB1. Feeding 5 and 10 g/kg DS caused amelioration at 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg AFB1 while partial amelioration was observed when 0.6 mg/kg AFB1 was used however, feeding 5 g/kg MT caused amelioration at 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg AFB1 while 10 g/kg MT showed amelioration at all levels of AFB1used.