Mycotoxins are metabolites secreted by fungi, as part of their reproductive strategy, capable of causing alterations on animals when they are present in feed. There is a large variety of mycotoxins, produced by different fungi species and responsible for a wide range of consequences in animal production.

Silicoglycidol is a modified aluminum silicate that works as a wide range mycotoxin binder. It creates hydrogen bridges with mycotoxins and avoids their absorption along the digestive tract.

1. Objective

Evaluate the adsorption of nutrients (fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins and amino acids), by Silicoglycidol, in comparison with other mycotoxin binders.

2. Material and methods

Intestinal juice at different pH was used, to simulate chicken’s gastrointestinal tract, so the adsorption of the different nutrients along the digestive tract could be stablished.

2.1 Water-soluble vitamins

Vitamin B12 was used in order to determine de adsorption of water-soluble vitamins. 32 samples were used as follows:

• 11 samples of 100 ml with vitamin B12 at 10 mg·l^-1 dose
• 6 samples of 100 ml without vitamin B12
• 10 samples with B12 vitamin + 5 binders at a dosage of 0.5 mg·l^-1
• 5 samples without B12 vitamin + 5 binders at a dosage of 0.5 mg·l^-1

The quantification of B¹² vitamin was made by spectrophotometry.

2.2 Water-soluble vitamins

For the quantification of fat-soluble vitamins, vitamin E was used. Samples were divided as follows:

• Control sample: vitamin Eit at 80 mg/L and without mycotoxin binder
• Sample 1: vitamin Eat 80 mg/L and with Silicoglycidol at 0.5 g/L
• Sample 2: vitamin Eat 80 mg/L and with another mycotoxin binder.

In order to quantify the adsorption, the antioxidant capacity of each sample was evaluated after the addition of sunflower oil. So, at lower adsorptions of vitamin E, there is higher antioxidant capacity of the sample and, therefore, the peroxide index is lower.

2.3 Amino acids

For the quantification of amino acids adsorption, lysine was used. In this case, the quantification was made by high performance liquid chromatography or HPLC.

3. Results

The adsorption of vitamin B12 by Silicoglycidol was lower than 1.5% in all pH and significantly lower than the observed adsorption with the rest of the mycotoxin binders.

In the case of the fat-soluble vitamins, the obtained peroxide index in the samples with Silicoglycidol was like the one obtained with the control group.The peroxide index obtained with Silicoglycidol was lower than the control group, so almost no adsorption of vitamin E was produced.

The concentration of lysine in the samples with Silicoglycidol turned out to be similar to the concentration in the control group. With the other mycotoxin binders, the concentration of this aminoacid was lower than the control group.

4. Conclusion

The mycotoxin binder called Silicoglycidol does not adsorb nutrients, so that its addition to feed helps to bind specifically mycotoxins without any effect on its nutritional value.

Silicoglycidol is a patented molecule by Biovet S.A. marketed under the name Alquerfeed Antitox.