ZOOTECHNICAL EFFICACY OF B.I.O TOX® FARM IN T-2 CHALLENGED BROILER

Source—B.I.O.Tox® Farm: Efficacy trial in broiler chickens, Instituto SAMITEC, Brazil

Bullet Point 22.18

Introduction

T-2 toxin is one of the most critical mycotoxins for poultry. The major effect of T-2 toxin in poultry is an inflammatory reaction in the oral cavity that pro-
gresses to necrosis and invasion of the normal mi-
croflora. Other effects of exposure to dietary T-2 toxin at levels between 1 and 4 ppm and different exposure times include decreased feed intake and body weight gain [Diaz et al., 2005].

Under the current conditions in agricultural prac-
tice the presence of trichothecenes such as T-2 toxin
cannot be completely avoided and can result in eco-
nomic losses. One way to minimize the effects of T-

2 toxin on animal health, is to reduce its bioavaila-
bility by using mycotoxin binder, such as B.I.O.Tox® Farm, in the feed.

The aim of the present study was to investigate if B.I.O.Tox® Farm can improve the performance of

broiler chickens during T-2 toxin exposure.

Material and methods

The trial was conducted at the Instituto SAMITEC
(Instituto de Soluções Analíticas, Microbiológicas e
Tecnológicas Ltda, Brasil) to evaluate B.I.O.Tox®
Farm as a potential protection against adverse ef-
fects of 2.0 ppm dietary T-2 toxin in male growing
broiler chickens.

A total of 360 one-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb
500) were individually weighed, wing-banded and
randomly allocated to the different experimental
groups. The experimental design consisted of a
completely randomized multifactorial arrangement
of treatments. The different groups are presented
in Table 1. The response variables measured in-
cluded the following:

Body weight                     BW      Day:      1, 7, 14 and 21

Body weight gain            BWG     Day:          7,14 and 21

Feed intake                        FI        Day:          7,14 and 21

Feed conversion ratio      FCR      Day:          7,14 and 21

Each  experimental  treatment  was  replicated  6
times with 10 birds per pen for a total of 60 birds
per treatment. BW and BWG were obtained by
weighing each bird individually. FI and FCR were an-
alysed using the replicate pen as experimental unit
(n = 6).

Tab. 1: Trial design (total mycotoxin concentration = 2 ppm; 82% T-2 toxin and 18% HT-2 toxin)

Treatment

PCG        Positive Control Group

NCG       Negative Control Group

BTF-0            B.I.O.Tox® Farm

BTF-1         B.I.O.Tox® Farm (1)

BTF-2         B.I.O.Tox® Farm (2)

BTF-4         B.I.O.Tox® Farm (4)

T2               BTF

[ppm]     [kg/MT]

–                –

2.0              –

–              4.0

2.0            1.0

2.0            2.0

2.0            4.0

All birds were given ad libitum access to feed and
water during the whole experimental period (d1 to
21). The animals received an iso-nutritive diet for-
mulated according to NRC (National Research Coun-
cil, 1994) demands, after NIRS evaluation of the raw
materials: maize, soybean meal and vitamin-min-
eral premix. Table 2 presents the main nutritional
values of the diet.

Tab. 2: Analysed nutrition contents of diet (averaged over all groups; conversion factor: 1 kcal = 4.19 x 10^-3 MJ]

ME¹⁾               DM²⁾             XP³⁾              XF⁴⁾             XL⁵⁾             XA⁶⁾

[MJ/kg]                                      [%]

13,23        11,51      21,68       2,19        5,43        5,78

¹⁾ ME = Metabolizable Energy; ²⁾ DM = Dry matter; ³⁾ XP = Crude
Protein; ⁴⁾ XF = Crude Fibre; ⁵⁾ XL = Crude Fat; ⁶⁾ XA = Crude Ash

The experimental diet was analysed for aflatoxins,
deoxynivalenol,  zearalenone,  diacetoxyscirpenol,
fumonisins, ochratoxin A and T-2 toxin and no de-
tectable levels of any of these mycotoxins were
found.

Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows body weight gain at 21 d.

900

a                    a         a         a         a

b

700

500

300

PCG   NCG  BTF-0 BTF-1 BTF-2 BTF-4

Figure.  1:  Effect  of  the  dietary  supplementation  of
B.I.O.Tox® Farm on BWG in broiler chickens receiving 2
ppm dietary T-2 toxin (p < 0.0001; ^ab = significant differ-
ences).

BWG was not significantly different between PCG
and the four groups receiving B.I.O.Tox® Farm, with
or without T-2 toxin (BTF-0, BTF-1, BTF-2 and BTF-4).
However, BWG was significantly lower in the nega-
tive control group receiving 2.0 ppm T-2 toxin alone
(p < 0.0001). The BWG in this group was 12.0 %
lower compared to the positive control group.

Because of T-2 toxication the reduction of BWG may be due to inflammation and irritation of the GIT resulting into decrease in FI and consequently de-
crease in BW of “poisoned” birds.  The measured FI (cf. figure 2) proves this assumption.

1.200        a                    a         a         a         a

b

1.000

800

600

PCG   NCG  BTF-0 BTF-1 BTF-2 BTF-4

Figure.  2:  Effect  of  the  dietary  supplementation  of
B.I.O.Tox® Farm on FI in broiler chickens receiving 2 ppm
dietary T-2 toxin (p < 0.001; ^ab = significant differences).

The FI during the whole experimental period was
significantly lower in the negative control group

receiving only T-2 toxin compared to the group re-
ceiving T-2 toxin plus B.I.O.Tox® Farm (BTF-1, BTF-2
and BTF-4). In contrast to the PCG, the FI reduction
of the negative control group was 6.3 %. Birds in
group BTF-0 did not differ from the positive control
group at any of the sampling times evaluated.

Cumulative 21-day FCR did not differ significantly in the experimental group:

FCR (PCG) = 1.15                 FCR (NCG) = 1.16

FCR (BTF-0) = 1.16              FCR (BTF-1) = 1.16

FCR (BTF-2) = 1.15              FCR (BTF-4) = 1.17

The results of figure 1 and 2 show that the supple-
mentation of B.I.O.Tox® Farm is capable of counter-
acting the adverse effect of T-2 toxin on BWG and
FI.

Mortality averaged 2.2% and no effect of treat-
ment was detectable.

Conclusion

Mycotoxins, particularly type-A trichothecenes like
T-2 toxin, are well-known for their adverse effects
on poultry performance. The results of the present
trial confirm these effects, since 2 ppm dietary T-2
toxin significantly decreased 21-d BWG and FI.
These adverse effects on performance were com-
pletely overcome by the dietary supplementation of
B.I.O.Tox® Farm.

The present study shows also that there were no
toxic effects of the mycotoxin binder B.I.O.Tox®
Farm on health status and performance of broiler
chickens.

The ratio between T-2 toxin and B.I.O.Tox® Farm
was 1:500, 1:1,000 and 1:2,000, respectively. Gen-
erally, mycotoxin control is dosed empirically with-
out any scientific report. Consequently, the obser-
vation described above could be relevant for user.
Based on results in this study it could be recom-
mended to add B.I.O.Tox® Farm into the contami-
nated feed in a ratio of 1:1,000, after determination
of T-2 concentration.

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