SODIUM BENTONITE AND MONENSIN UNDER CHR ONIC AFLATOXICOSIS IN BROILER CHICKENS

MAGNOLI AP

RIO CUARTO

Jornada; VI jornada científico-tecnicas; 2013

UNRC

Clay feed additives have been increasinglyincorporated into animal diets to prevent aflatoxicosis.Due to the nonselective nature of the binding interaction,many important components of the diets couldalso be made unavailable because of these feed additives.The anticoccidialmonensin (MON) could also besequestered by these clays. The use of sodium bentonite(Na-B) from a mine in the province of Mendoza, Argentina,was investigated as a sequestering agent to preventthe effects of 100 μg/kg of dietary aflatoxin B1 (AFB1).In vitro studies demonstrated that the above Na-B wasa good candidate to prevent aflatoxicosis. They alsoshowed that MON competes with AFB1 for the adsorptionsites on the clay surface and effectively displacesthe toxin when it is in low concentration. Even thoughthe levels of MON in diets, approximately 55 mg/kg,are high enough to not be significantly changed as aconsequence of the adsorption, they can further affectthe ability of the clays to bind low levels of AFB1.An in vivo experiment carried out with poultry showedthat 100 μg/kg of AFB1 does not significantly changeproductive or biochemical parameters. However, liverhistopathology not only confirmed the ability of thisparticular Na-B to prevent aflatoxicosis but also thedecrease of this capacity in the presence of 55 mg/kgof MON. This is the first report stressing this fact andfurther research should be performed to check if thisbehavior is a characteristic of the assayed Na-B or ofthis type of clay. On the other hand, the presence ofMON should also be taken into account when assayingthe potential AFB1 binding ability of a given bentonite.