Effects of glucose oxidase and bacillus subtilis on growth performance and serum biochemical indicexs of broilers exposed to aflatoxin B1 and endotoxin

Recently, the contamination and synergistic impact of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) have attracted people's attention. Non-toxic or non-lethal dose of AFB1 with the synergy of LPS could cause serious consequences on animal health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of glucose oxidase (GOD) and Bacillus subtilis (BS) on growth performance, feed conversion rate (FCR), liver function indices, intestinal mucosal barrier, enterotoxin and visceral lesions in broilers exposed to AFB1 and LPS. One-day-old yellow feather broilers (n = 240) were randomly allocated into 4 groups, with 10 chicks per cage in 6 replicates for each group, including the control group (CON), the infected group (INF) (AFB1 100 mu g/kg + LPS 1 mg/bird), GOD group (INF + GOD 400 U/kg), and BS group (INF + BS 2 x 10<^>10 colony forming units/kg). The animal experiment lasted for 21 days, during which the broilers were raised and vaccinated depending on the Yellow Feather Broiler Breeding Management Manual. Our results showed that the exposure to AFB1 and LPS reduced the final weight (FW), average daily gain (ADG), and average daily feed intake (ADFI) of the poultry, and it increased the FCR (P < 0.05). Moreover, liver functions (aspartate aminotransferase AST, alanine transaminase ALT, total protein TP, albumin ALB, and liver lesion score) and intestinal functions (diamine oxidase, endotoxin, and intestinal lesion scores) were equally impaired (P < 0.05). The addition of GOD or BS in broiler diets counteracted the toxins-exhibited impacts on broiler growth performance and FCR (P < 0.05). In addition, the main contribution of GOD was observed in improving broiler liver functions (P < 0.05), while the principal contribution of BS was reflected in improving intestinal functions of the broilers (P < 0.05), the level of which was recovered back to that in the control group (P > 0.05). Overall, GOD and BS introduced different benefits on improving liver anti-oxidative stress and protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier, respectively. These differences might have been resulted from their own different mechanisms of action, but the combination of GOD and BS is promising to be applied in diets for protecting poultry from toxins-induced illnesses.