This study investigated the effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and milk thistle seed (MTS) on some apparent ileal morphology and digestibility variables in the small intestines of broilers. A total of 216 Ross 308 male broiler chickens were allocated in a 3 3 factorial arrangement of the treatments with three concentration of AFB1 (0, 250, and 500 ppb) and three levels of MTS (0, 5, and 10 g kg -1 ). On day 35, the birds that received diets with 500 ppb of AFB1 alone (main effect) showed significant decrease in apparent ileal digestibility [dry matter (DM; 72.46±0.27) and ratio of VL to crypt depth (VL/CD; 4.74±0.07)] in their ileum segments (P<0.01). However, the mean nitrogen (N; 61.39±0.48) and crypt depth (CD; 173.5±9.87), in the ileum were significantly greater for the birds that were fed with 500 ppb AFB1 alone in their diets when compared with the control (P<0.01). Also, thistle seeds can ameliorate the toxic effects of AFB1 on some ileal digestibility factors, that is, DM, N, Ca, and CP, in broiler chicks. Nevertheless, ileum morphology of VW and goblet cell numbers were not affected negatively by the AFB1 plus MTS in diets. The results of this study indicated that the use of MTS independently reduced the toxic effects of AFB1, facilitated the absorption of nutrients, and reduced the metabolic demands of the intestinal tract in broiler chickens.
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of <em>Zataria multifora</em> (ZM) on the performance and liver histopathology of broiler chickens contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). One hundred and sixty Ross 308 male broilers (one-day-old) were divided into four treatment groups with four replicates with 10 birds in each replicate. The chickens were reared on the floor for 35 days. The groups were contaminated with AFB1 at two different concentrations,<em> i.e.,</em> 0 and 1000 ppb, and fed ZM in their feed at the concentrations of 0 and 20 gr Kg 1. The evaluated performance parameters were subjected to a completely randomized design with a 2×2 factorial arrangement of the treatments using SAS software (version 9/1). AFB1 had a statistical lowering effects on the feed intake, body weight, body weight gain and average weight of the carcass, thigh, chest, bursa of fabricius, back and neck. Also, the weights of liver, gizzard, pancreas, proventriculus, abdominal fat, full intestine, and heart were increased with AFB1 (P<0.05). In histopathological evaluations, the liver of chickens that received feed containing AFB1 showed multifocal and varied cytoplasmic vacuolization, severe fatty change, degenerating foci, fibrosis of the portal regions, and bile duct hyperplasia. The variables that were evaluated in this study showed that ZM had significant efficacy in diminishing the aflatoxins negative effects on the chickens.
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