EFFICACY OF VARIOUS INORGANIC SORBENTS TO REDUCE THE TOXICITY OF AFLATOXIN AND T-2 TOXIN IN BROILER-CHICKENS

Experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of three inorgani c sorbents, S1, S2, and S3, to reduce the toxicity of aflatoxins (AF) and T-2 toxin in male broiler chickens from day of hatch to 21 d of ag e. The compounds had been reported to bind to AF and T-2 toxin in vitr o. S1 and S2 were the same basic compound that had been stored for dif ferent lengths of time following activation. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, the appropriate diets were produced to contain no mycotoxins, the s pecific adsorbent at 0.5% of diet, AF alone at 5 mg/kg of diet, T-2 al one at 8 mg/kg of diet, AF at 5 mg/kg of diet plus the specific sorben t at 0.5% of diet, or T-2 at 8 mg/kg of diet plus the specific sorbent at 0.5% of diet. The specific sorbents used were: 1) Experiment 1, S1 ; 2) Experiment 2, S1 and S2; and 3) Experiment 3, S3. In Experiments 1 and 3, S1 and S3, respectively, showed no protection against AF or T -2 toxin as measured by BW gain, when compared to AF alone group. In E xperiment 2, S1 showed no protection; however S2 reduced the effects o f AF on BW gain by 25% as compared to AF alone diet. The data demonstr ate that under the conditions of our experiment: 1) one of the sorbent s provided some protection against aflatoxicosis; 2) there was variabi lity in protection against aflatoxicosis between two different samples of the same sorbent that had been stored for different lengths of tim e following activation; 3) protection by the sorbents against the effe cts of T-2 toxin was not observed.