The efficacy of bentonite and zeolite in reducing aflatoxin B1 toxicity on production performance and intestinal and hepatic health of broiler chickens

This research aimed to assess the influences of bentonite (BN) and zeolite (ZE) on reducing toxic influences of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in broilers by examining growth performance, carcase characteristics, serum indices, ileum morphology, apparent nutrient digestibility, and liver AFB1 residues. In total, 360 11-d-old straight-run broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into 6 dietary treatments, with 10 replications of 6 birds each, in a 20-d experiment. The treatments were as follows: standard basal diet (negative control, NC); NC + 0.25 mg/kg AFB1 (positive control, PC); NC + 0.4% BN; NC + 0.4% ZE; PC + 0.4% BN; PC + 0.4% ZE. Compared to the NC diet, feeding the PC diet decreased daily feed intake (DFI) during the grower and overall periods (p