The aflatoxins are a group of chemically similar poisonous, carcinogenic fungal secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. nomius, which are abundant in warm and humid regions of the world. They are probably the most intensively researched toxins in the world due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects. Aflatoxins have also been identified as a potential bi...

BACKGROUND Aflatoxin and fumonisin are toxic food contaminants. Knowledge about effects of their exposure and coexposure on child growth is inadequate. OBJECTIVE We investigated the association between child growth and aflatoxin and fumonisin exposure in Tanzania. METHODS A total of 166 children were recruited at 6-14 months of age and studied at recruitment, and at the 6th and 12th month f...

Aim: To evaluate the effect of different levels of High Bentonite on growth performance, organ weight and serum biochemistry in broiler fed on diets containing aflatoxin. Materials and Methods: A total of 360 day-old commercial broiler chicks were divided at random into 8 dietary treatment groups of 42 chicks each having 3 replicates. Dietary levels of aflatoxin (0.5 ppm) and High-grade bentoni...

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary aflatoxin (AF) on hepatic gene expression in male broiler chicks. Seventy five day-old male broiler chicks were assigned to three dietary treatments (five replicates of five chicks each) from hatch to day 21. The diets contained 0, 1 and 2 mg AF/kg of feed. Aflatoxin reduced (P < 0.05) feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), ...

The present study focused on aflatoxin (AF) uptake by sugarcanes from contaminated soils, and its persistence in jaggery. Analysis of 25 agricultural soil samples from sugarcane growing fields revealed that 80% were found contaminated with AF ranging from 0.5 to 22 ppb and all samples harbored aflatoxigenic fungi. Forty percent of the juices extracted from sugarcane grown in contaminated soil r...

Antibody based techniques are widely used for the detection of aflatoxins which are potent toxins with a high rate of occurrence in many crops. We developed a murine monoclonal antibody of immunoglobulin A (IgA) isotype with a strong binding affinity to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), aflatoxin G2 (AFG2) and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1). The antibody was effectively used i...

The toxic effects of highly carcinogenic mycotoxins, especially aflatoxins (AF), on key antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells (DC), are largely unknown. To elucidate the effect of AF on DC function, porcine monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) were treated with a mixture of several AF (i.e., AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2) and the phagocytic capacity, the membrane expression level of several DC a...

The potential of the yeast component, mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) to ameliorate the effects of aflatoxicosis was examined in growing Japanese quail. The product was incorporated in the diet at 1 g/kg and was evaluated for its ability to reduce the deleterious effects of 2 mg total aflatoxin (AF; 82.30% AFB1, 2.06% AFB2, 7.68% AFG1 and 7.96% AFG2)/kg diet on Japanese quail chicks from 10 to 45 d...

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding diets containing different levels of aflatoxin B1 (AF) viz., 0, 300, 400 and 500ppb on the hatching egg quality of broiler breeders. The breeder hens aged 28 weeks were fed with four treatment diets: Control (0ppm), (300 ppb), (400 ppb) and (500 ppb) for three periods, each with a duration of three weeks from 28 to 36 weeks of age. Feed...

The effects of total aflatoxin (AF) given orally on liver in Merino rams were studied. In addition, this study was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of an esterified glucomannan (EG) for protection against aflatoxicosis. One-year-old 32 Merino rams were divided into four equal groups. The control group (C) was fed with the commercial feed. The AF group was fed with commercial feed plu...