Efficacy of thai bentonite to ameliorate the adverse effects of aflatoxin and fumonisin contaminated diets in cherry valley ducks

Abstract

© 2016, Fundacion CIPAV. All rights reserved. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of Thai bentonite clay (TB) to ameliorate the adverse effects of mixed aflatoxin (AF) and fumonisin (FMN) contaminated diets (MD) in Cherry Valley ducks. A total of 210, 7-day-old ducks were randomly allocated to 4 treatments: CTL: Control diet with uncontaminated maize;; MCT: diet with contaminated maize (total AF = 70.4 ppb and total FMN = 580 ppb); HSCAS: MCT + 0.1% HSCAS (hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate); and TB: MCT + 0.2% TB. Each treatment had three replication pens, with 14 birds per pen. At the end of the 6 week experiment, the ducks fed MCT had decreased weight gain, feed intake, poorer feed conversion and survival, and several adverse physiological effects, including packed cell volume, hemoglobin level and serum enzyme values. Supplementation of MCT with 0.1% HSCAS or with 0.2% TB reduced the adverse effects on all parameters measured. The results support the conclusion that 0.2% TB can alleviate mycotixicoses induced by AF and FMN in ducks.