Ameliorative effects of natural products on Serum Biochemistry and histopathological changes of broilers fed Aflatoxin contaminated feeds

Abstract

This experiment evaluated the effects of 2 natural products with the potential to bind Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on serum biochemistry and liver histopathology of broilers fed contaminated feeds in comparison to a commercial binder (Novasil®).  Eight dietary treatments were formulated to meet National Research Council (NRC, 1994) standards as follows; treatment 1(basal diet), treatment 2 (basal diet + AFB1), treatment 3(basal diet + Novasil® (commercial binder), treatment 4 (basal diet +AFB1+ Novasil® (commercial binder), treatment 5 (basal diet + binder 1-RHA), treatment 6 (basal diet + AFB1+ binder 1-RHA), treatment 7(basal diet + binder 2-Banana peels) and treatment 8 (basal diet + AFB1+ binder 2-Banana peels). The level of AFB1 was 100 ppb. One hundred and forty-four unsexed day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to the eight treatments with 3 replicates each consisting of six broilers. At the end of 42 days, six mature birds from (2 mature birds from the 3 replicates) each treatment were randomly selected for histopathology and serum biochemistry analysis. The data were analyzed using SAS procedure and one way ANOVA was applied to assess the effect of the diets on the liver injury and serum biomarkers. The difference between the means was separated using Tukey’s Range Procedure (HSD). We observed that spiking diets with 100ppb AFB1 significantly (P<0.05) increased ALT enzyme titers and liver pathological damage. Inclusion of rice husk ash into contaminated diets led to a significant (P<0.05) reduction of ALT enzyme titer and liver injury. The relative liver weights, total proteins, uric acid and AST enzyme were not significantly different (p > 0.05) between the experimental treatments. We conclude that natural products (RHA) can be used to counter the negative effects of AFs in broilers.