This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a toxin binder and organic acids on growth performance, serum lipid profile, health indices, carcass traits, and meat quality of broiler chickens challenged with aflatoxin B1 and Clostridium perfringens. A total of 420 one-day-old as hatched Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 7 treatment groups, each with 6 replicates of 10 birds. The treatments were as follows: Control – basal diet without additives or challenges; A – basal diet, challenged with aflatoxin; AM – basal diet with toxin binder, challenged with aflatoxin; AMO – basal diet with toxin binder and organic acids, challenged with aflatoxin; ACP – basal diet, challenged with aflatoxin and C. perfringens; ACPM – basal diet with toxin binder, challenged with aflatoxin and C. perfringens; and ACPMO – basal diet with toxin binder and organic acids, challenged with aflatoxin and C. perfringens. Aflatoxin B1 (500 ppb) was administered throughout the trial. C. perfringens (1×108 cfu/mL) was introduced from day 15 for ten consecutive days. Both the toxin binder and organic acids were added at 0.2% of the basal diet.
Compared to control, AFB1 and C. perfringens significantly reduced body weight gain (BWG) and the EuropeanProduction Efficiency Index (EPEI), with AM mitigating these effects. In the co-challenge scenario, AC further impaired BWG and EPEI, while ACMO restored feed conversion ratio and EPEI to levels comparable to control during days 25–42. Nutrient digestibility and villus metrics declined under both challenges. AC increased C. perfringens counts, while AM and ACMO mitigated these effects and normalized the villus-to-crypt ratio by day 42. The combined AFB1 and C. perfringens challenge reduced ZO-1 expression, but supplementation with MTB and OAB restored ZO-1 and occludin levels to control values and tended to increase JAM-2 expression. In conclusion, co- exposure to AFB1 and C. perfringens produced more severe impairments than AFB1 alone; MTB was