Appraisal of the value of selected clays and minerals in diets with and without aflatoxin-contaminated maize fed to young pigs

Three experiments using 345 crossbred weanling pigs were conducted to further assess the value of different clay and mineral products in situations of aflatoxin contamination and, additionally, in noncontaminated diets. In experiment 1, 54 pigs were used in a 34-d trial to evaluate four amendments added at a rate of 0.5% to a diet contaminated with 500 ppb aflatoxin. Pigs fed the contaminated diet had reduced ADG of 27.8%; the sodium bentonite amendment resulted in total growth recovery (P<0.01) and the kaolin amendment resulted in 47% recovery (P<0.05) of the growth loss. A special Mg/Ca mineral blend resulted in a 60% (P<0.05) recovery of the growth loss and maintained feed/gain. A commercial pellet binder provided no amelioration of growth loss. A total of 291 crossbred pigs were used in two experiments, each involving two trials of 28 to 33 d, to assess the response of weanling pigs to amendments evaluated in the first study, plus additional amendments (a zeolite, a calcium bentonite, a saponite, a sepiolite, and another mineral product) in diets that were not contaminated with aflatoxin. Several products enhanced ADG (P<0.05) through improvements in ADFI. No reduction (P<0.10) in ADG resulted from inclusion of these non-protein- or energy-containing compounds. Results from these studies confirm the utility of clays mitigate the adverse effects of aflatoxin in weanling pig diets and demonstrate occasional enhancement of ADG associated with these amendments in situations when aflatoxin contamination does not occur.