Document Type : Articles
Authors
1 College of Agriculture, Tikrit University, Tikrit province, Iraq
2 Agriculture and Life Sciences, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Cankiri Karatekin University, Turkey
3 Field Crops, Food and Agriculture Vocational School, Cankiri Karatekin University, Turkey
Abstract
Aflatoxins, toxic metabolites produced by fungi in grains, cause economic losses and health problems in the poultry industry. This study investigates the protective effectiveness of xylo-oligosaccharides (0.4% and 0.8% g/kg) in mitigating the adverse effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1; 3 mg/kg) contamination in broiler diets. Experimental groups included: no supplement, 3 mg/kg aflatoxin, 0.4% xylo-oligosaccharide, 0.8% xylo-oligosaccharide, 3 mg/kg aflatoxin + 0.4% xylo-oligosaccharide, and 3 mg/kg aflatoxin + 0.8% xylo-oligosaccharide. Weekly live weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, bursa of Fabricius weight, and internal organ weights were evaluated. Results showed that AFB1-contaminated feed reduced weekly and final weight, weekly and final weight gain, and weekly feed intake, while increasing the feed conversion rate. AFB1 also had detrimental effects on internal organ weights. Xylo-oligosaccharide alone did not significantly improve performance and increased abdominal fat. However, the combined use of AFB1 and xylo-oligosaccharides mitigated the negative effects of AFB1. The addition of 0.8% xylo-oligosaccharide was particularly effective in reducing the adverse effects of AFB1 in broiler chickens.
Keywords
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