Ameliorative Effects of Neutral Electrolyzed Water on Growth Performance, Biochemical Constituents, and Histopathological Changes in Turkey Poults during Aflatoxicosis

Abstract

Different in vitro and in silico approaches from our research group have demonstrated that neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) can be used to detoxify aflatoxins. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of NEW to detoxify B-aflatoxins (AFB1 and AFB2) in contaminated maize and to confirm detoxification in an in vivo experimental model. Batches of aflatoxin-contaminated maize were detoxified with NEW and mixed in commercial feed. A total of 240 6-day-old female large white Nicholas-700 turkey poults were randomly divided into four treatments of six replicates each (10 turkeys per replicate), which were fed ad libitum for two weeks with the following dietary treatments: (1) control feed containing aflatoxin-free maize (CONTROL); (2) feed containing the aflatoxin-contaminated maize (AF); (3) feed containing the aflatoxin-contaminated maize detoxified with NEW (AF + NEW); and (4) control feed containing aflatoxin-free maize treated with NEW (NEW). Compared to the control groups, turkey poults of the AF group significantly reduced body weight gain and increased feed conversion ratio and mortality rate; whereas turkey poults of the AF + NEW group did not present significant differences on productive parameters. In addition, alterations in serum biochemical constituents, enzyme activities, relative organ weight, gross morphological changes and histopathological studies were significantly mitigated by the aflatoxin-detoxification procedure. From these results, it is concluded that the treatment of aflatoxin-contaminated maize with NEW provided reasonable protection against the effects caused by aflatoxins in young turkey poults.

Harmful Effects and Control Strategies of Aflatoxin B1 Produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus Strains on Poultry: Review

“…Table 2 summarizes the effects of AFB 1 produced by A. flavus and A. parasiticus strains on the relative weights of the spleen, thymus, and bursa of Fabricius in poultry. In some studies [71], while the relative weights of the immune organs were not significantly affected by AFB 1 , histological changes in the organs were observed. Thus, the histological changes might not have been sufficient to cause significant reductions in the relative weights of the immune organs.…”

“…AFB 1 can cause imbalanced lipid metabolism, promoting lipid deposition in the enlarged liver [107,108], repress the activity of antioxidant enzymes and anti-inflammatory cytokines, enhance lipid peroxidation and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increase hepatocyte apoptosis [53,109,110,111,112,113]. The usual deleterious effects of AFB 1 on hepatocytes result in high concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase in poultry blood after feeding diets containing AFB 1 [37,50,71,81,114]. Aspartate aminotransferase (found in mitochondria) and alanine aminotransferase (found in the cytoplasm) are involved in hepatic protein metabolism, and they can determine the cell integrity [115,116].…”

“…Aspartate aminotransferase (found in mitochondria) and alanine aminotransferase (found in the cytoplasm) are involved in hepatic protein metabolism, and they can determine the cell integrity [115,116]. Thus, the plasma content of total protein, albumin, globulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol decreased in poultry fed diets containing AFB 1 [28,30,71,83,108,117,118], thereby indicating diminished protein and lipid biogenesis, which could account for reduced productivity of poultry fed such diets.…”

“…The proportion of apoptotic cells was found to increase in the kidneys of broilers fed a diet containing AFB 1 [123]. Although AFB 1 increased the percentage of apoptotic renal cells, kidney enlargement also occurred [24,71,83,117,118,122,124], possibly due to increases in the number of mesangial cells and thickness of the glomerular basement membrane, and distension of the tubular epithelium cells as a consequence of granular degeneration [122,124,125]. It is not surprising, therefore, that the concentrations of creatinine and uric acid increased in the blood, reliable indicators of renal dysfunction [126,127], of birds that ingested feed contaminated with AFB 1 [71,124].…”

Promising Detoxification Strategies to Mitigate Mycotoxins in Food and Feed

“…The presented special issue additionally reported on expanding the current empirical utilization of innovative mitigation strategies to control mycotoxins in actual farm settings. The use of neutral electrolyzed water to prevent aflatoxicosis in Turkey poults was among the promising studies that were shared by Gómez-Espinosa et al [ 11 ]. As reported, alterations of serum biochemical constituents, enzyme activities, relative organs weights, and morphological changes associated with AF(s) were all mitigated by using the described neutral electrolyzed water detoxification procedure.…”