Effects of feeding corn naturally contaminated with aflatoxin on growth performance, apparent ileal digestibility, serum hormones levels and gene expression of Na, K-ATPase in ducklings

Abstract

Objective A 14-d trial was conducted to determine the effects of feeding corn naturally contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on growth performance, apparent ileal digestibility, serum hormones levels and gene expression of Na+, K+-ATPase in ducklings. Methods A total of 704 ducklings were blocked on the basis of sex and body weight (BW), and then allocated randomly to one of the following two treatments: i) CON, basal diet and ii) AFB1, diets with 100% of normal corn replaced with AFB1 contaminated corn. There were 22 pens per treatment and 16 birds per pen. The concentration of AFB1 was 195.4 and 124.35 μg/kg in the contaminated corn and AFB1 diet, respectively. Results The AFB1 decreased average daily gain, average daily feed intake, d 7 BW, final BW in the whole trial, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) during d 8 to 14 and d 1 to 14 by 10% to 47% (p0.05). Dietary treatments did not influence relative expression of jejunal Na+, K+-ATPase gene (p>0.05). Conclusion Taken together, feeding corn naturally contaminated with AFB1 reduced growth performance, improved apparent ileal digestibility, and affected serum leptin and IGF-1 in ducklings from d 1 to 14.

Keywords

• Aflatoxin B
• Ducklings
• Leptin
• Nutrient Digestibility
• Performance