Toxins 13 eng application/pdf 3616292 bytes info:eu-repo/semantics/article Vasiljević, Marko Marinković, Darko Milićević, Dragan R. Pleadin, Jelka Stefanović, Srđan Trailović, Srđa Raj, Jog Petrujkić, Branko Nedeljković-Trailović, Jelena All rights reserved adsorbent; OTA; performance traits; pathohistological changes; OTA residue; eggs; risk assessment https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:164 doi:10.3390/toxins13070469 The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of modified clinoptilolite (Minazel Plus ® , MZ) as a mycotoxin adsorbent for preventing the negative the effects of ochratoxin A (OTA) on performance, pathohistological changes, and OTA residue in the eggs of laying hens. Methods: Forty eight (n = 48) laying hens (27 weeks old) were equally divided into six groups and depending on the type of addition were allocated to the following experimental treatments for 7 weeks: E-I group-1 mg/kg OTA; E-II group 0.25 mg/kg OTA; E-III group 1 mg/kg OTA + 0.2% of MZ; E-IV group 0.25 mg/kg OTA + 0.2% of MZ; MZ group supplemented with 0.2% of the adsorbent; and control (K, without feed additive). Results: Overall, the addition of 0.2% MZ to laying hen feed mitigated the harmful effects of OTA on target organs and reduced the presence of OTA residue in eggs. The groups that received 0.2% of MZ achieved better production results in terms of body weight, number of eggs, and feed consumption, compared to the other treatments. Conclusions: The current findings confirm the efficacy of MZ in preventing performance losses in laying hens exposed to OTA, as well as for improving the welfare and health of food producing animals. 2021 Efficacy of a modified clinoptilolite based adsorbent in reducing detrimental effects of ochratoxin a in laying hens MDPI