Evaluating the effectiveness of Toxfin and Novasil as dietary aflatoxin-binding agents in broilers for sustaining hepatic antioxidant capacity and intestinal health status during aflatoxin B1 exposure

Abstract

To assess the efficacy of Toxfin and Novasil as aflatoxin-binding agents in broilers exposed to aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) from 11 to 30 days, 288 mixed-sex Ross 308 broiler chickens were randomly allocated to four dietary groups: control feed, control feed + 0.25 mg/kg AFB₁, AFB₁ feed + 0.3% Toxfin, and AFB₁ feed + 0.3% Novasil. The evaluation encompassed growth performance for the grower (11-20 days), finisher (21-30 days), and overall (11-30 days) phases, carcass characteristics, serum biochemical components, liver function enzymes, hepatic antioxidant capacity, AFB₁ residue in the liver and kidney, and ileal morphology at 30 days, and apparent nutrient digestibility during 29-30 days. Exposure to AFB₁ significantly resulted in reduced growth efficiency, lowered carcass yields, liver hypertrophy, impaired metabolic and hepatic functions, liver oxidative stress, disrupted ileum architecture, diminished nutrient digestibility, and accumulated AFB₁ in the liver and kidney. Conversely, supplementation of Toxfin or Novasil significantly augmented body weight gain (BWG) and reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the finisher and overall phases, elevated BWG in the grower phase, heightened levels of glucose, hepatic protein, and glutathione peroxidase, declined malondialdehyde content, improved apparent metabolizable energy, and lowered AFB₁ residues in the liver and kidney. Furthermore, Toxfin inclusion significantly reduced FCR during the grower phase, enhanced European production efficiency factor during the grower and overall phases, augmented dressing percentage, declined proportional liver weight, elevated concentrations of total protein, albumin, and total antioxidant capacity, heightened villus surface area, and boosted crude protein digestibility. To conclude, incorporating 0.3% Toxfin into broilers' feeds confers a more effectual safeguard than Novasil against the deleterious consequences of AFB₁ exposure.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B1; Binding agents; Broiler; Intestinal integrity; Liver health; Performance.