Background:

Mycotoxins are a significant cause of economic losses in swine farming and adsorbents based on yeast cell walls provide an alternative solution to reducing this challenge.

Objective:

To evaluate the efficacy of an antimycotoxin additive (AMA; Safmannan®) for preventing the toxic effects of zearalenone (ZEA).

Methods:

A total of 36 pre-pubertal gilts were used, whose diets consisted of two different levels of AMA (based on the yeast cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae; 0 and 0.2%) and three inclusion levels of ZEA (0, 0.25, and 0.6 ppm). The experiment was conducted for a period of 21 d and the following parameters were measured weekly: Live weight, weight gain, feed intake, and vulvar volume. The relative weight of the liver and the entire reproductive tract, including the uterus-ovary-vagina combined were also measured.

Results:

There was a significant enhancement in the index characteristics of reproductive organs like vulvar volume, weight of the entire reproductive tract and weight of the uterus-ovary-vagina of the intoxicated animals. The antimycotoxin effects were the same, irrespective of the ZEA levels (0.25 and 0.6 ppm).

Conclusion:

The addition of AMA to diets containing ZEA proved to be an effective alternative for reducing the toxic effects of this mycotoxin.

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