Effects of naturally mycotoxin-contaminated corn on nutrient and energy utilization of ducks fed diets with or without Calibrin-A.

One hundred sixty-two 21-d-old ducks were randomly allotted to 6 treatments with 3 levels of mycotoxin-contaminated corn (0, 50, and 100% M) and 2 levels of Calibrin-A (CA, a clay mycotoxin adsorbent, 0 and 0.1%) to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of mycotoxin-contaminated corn on nutrient utilization in ducks fed diets with or without CA. Endogenous losses were obtained from another 27 ducks. Excreta samples were collected to determine DM, OM, CP, amino acids, and gross energy. Gross energy was analyzed for computation of AME and TME. The apparent digestibility (AD) and true digestibility (TD) of the nutrients in all treatments with and without CA had common (P > 0.05) intercepts and slopes except Pro (P < 0.05). The AME, TME, AD, and TD of DM, OM, Phe, and Gly were linearly (P < 0.05) decreased as the concentration of contaminated corn in the diet increased. Ducks fed the 100% M diet supplemented with 0.1% CA increased AD and TD of Gly compared with the 100% M diet, and ducks fed 50 and 100% M diet supplemented with 0.1% CA increased AD and TD of Pro compared with 50% M and 100% M diet, respectively. In the present study, ducks fed mycotoxin-contaminated corn decreased nutrient digestibility in dose-dependent manner, and 0.1% CA supplementation improved AD and TD of Gly and Pro.