A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of esterified glucomannan in counteracting the toxic effects of mycotoxins in naturally contaminated diet (aflatoxin 168 ppb, ochratoxin 8.4 ppb, zearalenone 54 ppb, and T-2 toxin 32 ppb) fed to commercial broilers. One-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments with five replicates of 14 chicks each. Four dietary treatments were 1) control; 2) esterified glucomannan, an adsorbent, tested at 0.05% of diet; 3) naturally contaminated diet; and 4) esterified glucomannan (0.05%) plus naturally contaminated diet. Body weight, feed consumption, feed efficiency, hematology, and serum biochemical and enzyme activities were evaluated. Compared with the control, the naturally contaminated diet significantly decreased body weight and feed consumption and resulted in poor feed efficiency. Esterified glucomannan effectively alleviated the growth depression caused by the naturally contaminated diet. Increased relative weights of liver and gizzard were observed in chicks fed the naturally contaminated diet. Further, feeding a naturally contaminated diet was associated with significant decreases in urea nitrogen and hematocrit values along with altered gamma-glutamyl transferase activity; however, urea nitrogen concentration was improved with addition of esterified glucomannan. These findings suggest that addition of dietary esterified glucomannan is effective in counteracting the toxic effects of naturally contaminated feed with mycotoxins.

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An experiment was conducted to study the efficiency of inclusion of neem, turmeric, vitamin E and its combinations on performance and hematological parameters for a period of six weeks with 288 day old Raja II broiler chicks. Basal diet was supplemented with Azadirachta indica (Neem 8g/kg feed), Curcuma longa (Turmeric 2g/kg feed) and Vitamin E 0.2g/kg feed) individually and in combination to form eight test diets. Each test diet was fed ad libitum for 42 days. The result of the present stumdy identified no significant difference in body weight of chicks fed with supplemented diets. Whereas, addition of either neem alone or in combination with turmeric and vitamin E induced significant growth depression in birds compared to control birds. Supplementation of neem, turmeric, Vitamin E and their combinations in broiler diets did not exhibit any significant effect on feed intake and feed conversion ratio during all the weeks of age. The percentage livability of birds under different treatments was statistically non-significant. Hematological parameters in broilers revealed that the hemoglobin concentration in neem fed group was significantly (P<0.05) higher (10.5 g/dL) when compared to turmeric fed group (9.85 g/dL), otherwise diet containing turmeric alone recorded lowest value of hemoglobin. Feeding of neem alone and its combination with turmeric and vitamin E increases significantly PCV values as compared to control. The supplementation of turmeric or vitamin E alone to basal diet did not significantly change PCV values.

An experimental trial with 2×2×2 factorial design was conducted to assess the individual and combined effects of mycotoxins including ochratoxin A (OTA) (0 and 1.0 mg/kg), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) (0 and 0.5 mg/kg) and high-grade sodium bentonite (HGSB) (0 and 1.0%) in broilers. Significant depression of body weight, feed consumption, serum protein and serum albumin were noticed due to OTA, AFB1 and OTA+AFB1. The relative weights of pancreas, spleen and bursa were not altered significantly either by inclusion of OTA, AFB1, OTA+AFB1 or HGSB. Increases in the relative weights of liver and gizzard were observed in OTA, AFB1 and OTA+AFB1. Decreases in serum protein levels and increases in gamma glutamyl transferase were noticed in the OTA+AFB1 group. Also decreases in serum protein levels for alanine amino transferase and thymus were observed. The antibody titres against Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bursal Disease were significantly (P<0.05) decreased in all the treatment groups compared to control. HGSB reduced the toxicity of aflatoxin and marginally ameliorated the effect of OTA+AFB1 on some parameters.

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