Effects of feeding corn naturally contaminated with AFB<sub>1</sub> and AFB<sub>2</sub> on performance and aflatoxin residues in broilers

Abstract

 AFB<sub>1</sub> is the most abundant aflatoxin in food and animal feed, generally occurring along with low levels of other aflatoxins. In this experiment, broilers were administered corn that was naturally contaminated with AFB<sub>1</sub> and AFB<sub>2</sub>. We found that the broilers were more sensitive during the starter period and had a poor performance during the grower period. In addition, the broilers showed a significant reduction in feed intake when consuming material contaminated with 134.0 and 23.6 µg/kg of AFB<sub>1</sub> and AFB<sub>2</sub>, respectively. Our results also demonstrate that villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth significantly decreased when the broilers were fed daily with diets contaminated with AFB<sub>1</sub> and AFB<sub>2</sub>. Furthermore, AFB<sub>1</sub> residues in livers and breast muscles were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) at levels of 0.137 and 0.016 µg/kg, respectively. The AFM<sub>1</sub> residue was also detected in livers at a level of 0.051 µg/kg but it was not detectable in breast muscles.