¹Scientific Veterinary Institute “Novi Sad”, Department for epizootiology, clinical diagnostic and DDD, 21000 Novi Sad, SERBIA
²Scientific Veterinary Institute of Serbia, Department of food and feed quality and safety, 11070 Belgrade, SERBIA
³University of Belgrade, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, 11000 Belgrade, SERBIA
⁴Institute for Animal Husbandry, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 11080 Zemun-Belgrade, SERBIA DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2021.26654 This experiment was performed to investigate the protective eff ect of a new combined adsorbent (bentonite + yeast cell wall extract) previously tested in vitro, on the occurrence of pathological lesions in broilers fed a diet contaminated with afl atoxin B1 until 21 days of age. A total of 96 one-day old Ross 308 hybrid broiler chickens were divided into four groups: group I (control), group II (5 g/kg adsorbent), group III (5 g/kg adsorbent + 2 mg/kg afl atoxin B1), and group IV (2 mg/kg afl atoxin B1). Grossly, AFB1 and AFB1+adsorbent fed birds showed enlargement, friable texture of liver and enlargement and pallorness of kidneys. Spleen revealed size reduction. No gross-pathological changes were observed in control and group II. Histopathologically, lesions were observed in afl atoxicated groups. Liver revealed vacuolar cell degeneration, periportal and perivascular infiltration of mononuclear cells. Kidneys revealed mild to moderate degree of haemorrhages, tubular epithelial necrosis and infiltration of mononuclear cells along with heterophils. In group IV, catarrhal enteritis characterized by desquamation of epithelial cells were found in the duodenum. A milder form of gross and histopathological lesions was seen in group III. In conclusion, the present study revealed that supplementation of a new combined toxin binder product in the concentration of 5 g/kg could not completely ameliorate afl atoxicity in broilers, although it met the stringent European regulation requirements for the minimum of 90% afl atoxin binding efficiency in in vitro study. Keywords : Adsorbent, Afl atoxin B1, Broilers, Pathological lesions