Comparison of Mycotoxin Binders in The Aflatoxin B1-Contaminated Broiler Diets

Abstract

Mycotoxin contaminations in poultry feed have been the second major stumbling block in feed industry after increasing price of conventional feedstuff. Among over 300 mycotoxins identified, aflatoxins B1 have been a main concern for animal nutrionist, particularly in tropical regions. The use of mycotoxin binders to replace fungicide or mold killer has been long practiced in poultry diet. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of mannan-polysaccharides extracted from copra meal in an attempt to bind mycotoxin in broiler diets. Three hundred broiler chicks were used and were allocated to treatment diets in brooder cages from days 1 to 14. On days 15, eighty birds were transferred into the individual metabolism cages for faecal collection and digestibility studies. The rest of the birds were then allocated into floor cages for the bird performance parameters. The treatments diets were: (1) control diet, (2) control diet + 0.10% bentonite, (3) control diet + 0.02% yeast mannan, (4) control diet + 0.02% copra mannan (CM) and (5) control diet + 0.05% CM. The diets were mixed with or without aflatoxin B1. The feeds and water were offered ad-libitum. Total faecal collection was done for three consecutive days for digestibility measurements. A completely randomized factorial design was used to test the effect of 5 diets in the presence of two levels of aflatoxin B1 on bird performance by using 4 replicate cages. Coefficient of feed digestibility was significantly improved due to diet treatments where contaminating the feed with 0.3 ppm aflatoxins B1 impaired feed digestibility. There was an interaction between diet treatments and level of aflatoxins B1 in coefficient of feed digestibility (P<0.05). A decreased digestibility was only found in contaminated diet when the diet was not supplemented with mycotoxin binders. The use of 0.05% CM improved feed efficiency. In conclusion, 0.05% CM in the diet can be effectively in broiler diets.