Effects of Dietary Sodium Bentonite and Mannan Oligosaccharide Supplementation on Performance, Egg Quality, Blood and Digestion Characteristics of Laying Hens Fed Aflatoxin Contaminated Diet

In this experiment, sodium bentonite (SB) (0.5% and 1%) and mannan oligosaccharide (MOS, 0.1%) were fed to laying hens each receiving approximately 120 ppb total aflatoxin (AF), and were compared to AF contaminated negative control (NC) and control without AF (C) groups. A total of 180 hens at 26 weeks of age from Barred Rock were tested for 12 weeks. No significant differences in liveability, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg quality characteristics except for egg yolk redness (a*) and blood parameters were observed among the groups. When compared NC with C, egg weight, egg mass and body weight gain were decreased. The addition of 0.5% SB (SB-1) increased egg production and egg mass compared to NC and MOS. The addition of 1% SB (SB-2) increased egg mass compared to NC. The AF contaminated diet (NC) caused a significant decrease in a* compared to C. Aflatoxin was not detected in eggs obtained from any of the treatments. Faeces pH was higher in NC than in C, SB-1 and SB-2 and similar to that of MOS. The proportion of dry matter of the faeces in C was higher than that of NC. As a result, SB appears to be more effective than MOS as a toxin-binding agent in counteracting the adverse effects of AF in laying hens.