Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2013
A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the suitability of hepatic aflatoxin (AFB1) concentration as a biomarker to assess the in vivo efficacy of a mycotoxin binder in poultry when AFB1 dietary concentrations are low. Diets containing low doses of AFB1 without or with Mycosorb® (MTB), a mycotoxin binder, were fed to broilers from 7 to 21 days of age. The accumulation of AFB1 in liver was measured by high performance liquid chromatography with a detection limit of 5 ng/kg liver. In response to 10 and 50 µg AFB1/kg feed, hepatic AFB1 accumulation was 27 and 145 ng AFB1/kg liver, respectively. At each dietary concentration of AFB1, the inclusion of 5 g MTB/kg of feed reduced (P < 0.1 for 10 μg AFB1/kg feed and P < 0.05 for 50 μg AFB1/kg feed) hepatic AFB1 accumulation by at least 50%. These results suggest that hepatic AFB1 concentration is a suitable biomarker for evaluating mycotoxin binder efficacy in poultry fed the EU maximum dietary concentration of 10 µg of AFB1/kg feed.