efficacy of sodium bentonite and esterified glucomannan on antibody titer in response to infection bursal disease vaccine during experimental aflatoxicosis in broiler

studies have shown that aflatoxin is immunosuppressive and its ingestion in feed has resulted in decreased immunity in vaccinated birds .therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the efficacy of sodium bentonite (sb) and esterified glucomannan (e-gm) of yeast cell wall, in counteracting the toxic effects of aflatoxin (af) on immunization against infectious bursal disease (ibd) in broiler feed with naturally contaminated diet with aflatoxin. seven-day-old chicks were randomly assigned to 10 dietary treatments in three replicates of 8 chicks. treatments were:1) control; 2) naturally contaminated diet; 3, and 4) naturally contaminated diet (ncd) supplemented with 0.5 and 1.0% sb respectively; 5 and 6) (ncd) with 0.05 and 0.1% e-gm respectively; 7) ncd supplemented with 0.5% sb and 0.05 % e-gm, 8) ncd supplemented with 0.5% sb and 1.0 % e-gm, 9) ncd supplemented with 1.0% sb and 0.05 e-gm, and 10) ncd supplemented with 1.0% sb and 0.1% e-gm. blood samples were taken in 21, 28, 35 and 42 day of age and the titers of antibody against ibd were measured by elisa test. the addition of e-gm and sb to the aflatoxincontaining diet ameliorated the adverse effects of aflatoxin on ibd antibody titers, but e-gm supplementation to the contaminated diet with aflatoxin proved to be much more effective in the amelioration of the adverse effect of aflatoxin on homoral immunity against ibd. these results clearly demonstrated that simultaneous addition of e-gm and sb (treatment 8) to the af-containing diet provided significant reduction on the immunotoxic effects of af.