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 B 1 exposure

Abstract

Abstract To assess the efficacy of Toxfin and Novasil as aflatoxin-binding agents in broilers exposed to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) from 11–30 d, 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 d), finisher (21–30 d), and overall (11–30 d) phases, carcass characteristics, serum biochemical components, liver function enzymes, hepatic antioxidant capacity, AFB1 residue in the liver and kidney, and ileal morphology at 30 d, and apparent nutrient digestibility during 29–30 d. 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 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.