Dietary supplementation ofPiper nigrum in alleviating the experimentally induced aflatoxicosis in broilers

Abstract

The ameliorating effects of dietary Piper nigrum (PN) were studied in experimental aflatoxicosis with broilers for 6 week. Commercial broiler chicks (140) were divided into 7 equal groups. A control diet (TO) was prepared from conventional feedstuffs and experimental diet (Tx) was produced by mixing aflatoxin B1@300 ppb (At) in the TO. The PN in powder form was added at 4 levels Le., 0.1, 0.15, 0.20 or 0.25% into the Tx. The effects ofdietary PN alone were studied by mixing it in the TO @ 0.25%. The dietary Af significantly reduced body weight, however, the inclusion of PN in the diet of toxin fed broilers could partially improve the body weight in dose dependent manner. The feed consumption in toxin fed groups was significantly depressed as compared to control group; however, there was partial improvement due to the dietary supplementation ofPN. The trend ofresults observed for feed-to-gain ratio was similar to that offeed consumption. The impact of feeding Afin broilers was not found on feather- and toe haemorrhage scores but leg score was significantly affected. Feeding Af alone caused significant increase in the relative weights of liver, giblet and proventriculus but decreased in the relative ready-to-cook (RTC) weights as compared to their control counterpart. However, incorporation ofPN significantly improved the RTC weight and reduced the size ofliver, giblet and proventriculus bringing towards normalcy in the Affed birds. It was interesting to note that dietary supplementation ofPN over 0.2% did not give additional benefit. From this study it could be concluded that the protective effect ofPN in experimental aflatoxicosis was only partial.