Research Information System
Pakistan Veterinary Journal, vol.45, no.1, pp.268-276, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
This study aimed to evaluate the impact of adding nano-chitosan to feed contaminated with aflatoxin and fumonisin on the performance, carcass quality, organ weights, immunoglobulin levels, blood profiles, and histopathology of broilers. A total of 96 Ross-308 male broiler chicks were divided into 8 experimental groups with 3 replicates of 4 chicks each for a period of 42 days. The experimental groups included a control group (no treatment), group receiving 2.81mg/kg of aflatoxin-B1 (AFB1), 332.44mg/kg of fumonisin-B1 (FB1), or a combination of both of AFB1+FB1. In addition, nano-chitosan (NC) was supplemented at the rate of 0.5g/kg to these diets, resulting in the AFB1 + NC, FB1 + NC, and AFB1 +NC groups. Individual body weight (BW) and feed intake (FI) were measured at 0, 7, 21, and 42 days to calculate body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The carcass traits, internal organ weights, blood components and immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, and IgM) levels in blood were determined on day 42. Addition of AFB1, FB1, or their combination significantly reduced BW, BWG, FI, FCR, and carcass traits (P<0.05). The supplementation of NC partially improved performance values in infected broilers. The cooking loss, drip loss, and freezing loss percentages of meat were significantly higher in the AFB1, FB1, or their combination when compared to the NC groups (P<0.05). The hematological and immunoglobulins parameters were significantly reduced in infected broilers while the addition of NC restored these parameters (P<0.01). The AFB1, FB1, or their combination caused pathological lesions in the liver of broilers and addition of NC treatment partially restored these anomalies. In conclusion, adding AFB1, FB1, or their combination in the diets depressed performance traits, carcass quality, blood components, and the addition of NC showed improvements in these parameters.