Efficacy of biological adsorbents to ameliorate aflatoxicosis in broiler chicken: Effect on immune response and histopoathology of liver

The efficacy of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) and mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) alone or in combinations as aflatoxin adsorbents in the diets of broiler chickens during aflatoxicosis was investigated. A total of 320 day-old broiler chicks were divided into 10 treatment groups (T₁ - control; T₂ - T₁ + 300 ppb AFB₁; T₃ - T₂ + 0.05% MOS; T₄ - T₂ + 0.1% MOS; T₅ - T₂ + 0.2% MOS; T₆ - T₂ + 0.05% SC; T₇-T₂ + 0.1% MOS; T₈ - T₂ + 0.2% MOS; T₉ - T₂ + 0.05% MOS+ 0.05% SC; T₁₀ - T₂ + 0.1% MOS + 0.1% SC). Each diet was offered from day-old to 42 days of age to four replicated groups of 8 birds each. Aflatoxin contamination in feed (T₂) caused significant (P<0.05) reduction in immune response and lesions in liver histopathology. Inclusion of binders to the aflatoxin contaminated diet partially to completely ameliorated these adverse effects of aflatoxicosis. The cell mediated immunity and HA titre values in all the binder groups were similar to that of control except at T₆. Supplementation of SC at 0.05% level may not be sufficient in ameliorating the adverse effect of 300 ppb aflatoxin on cell mediated and humoral immunity. Addition of mycotoxin binders MOS and SC as well as their combination diminished the toxic effect of aflatoxin on liver tissues partially or completely in a dose dependent manner. The alterations in the liver tissues from the group T₃, T₄, T₆, T₇, T₉ were reduced to some extent. The liver tissues from group T₅, T₈ and T₁₀ had retained normal structure which is comparable to the liver tissues from group T₁. It is concluded that inclusion of binders MOS and SC (at the rate 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2%) and their combination ameliorated the effect of aflatoxin partially or completely in dose dependent manner. The 0.2% level of MOS or SC as well as combination of 0.1% MOS and SC is effective to counteract 300 ppb aflatoxin B₁ in broiler chickens. MOS appeared to be more efficient than SC in ameliorating the ill effects of aflatoxicosis on immune response in broiler chickens, however, they have similar efficiency to counteract the effect of aflatoxicosis on liver tissues.