Evaluation of the protective effect of lycopene on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and digestive enzyme activities of aflatoxinB1 challenged broilers.

Abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate the protective efficiency of dietary lycopene (LYC) supplementation on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and digestive enzyme activities aflatoxinB1 (AFB1 ) challenged broilers. A total of 240days old Arber across male broiler chicks were randomly allocated in five treatments and six replicates (eight birds per replicate); feed and water were provided ad libitum during the 42days experiment. The treatment diets were as follows: (i) Basal diet (control), (ii) Basal diet+100µg/kg AFB1 contaminated diet, (iii) Basal diet+100µg/kg AFB1 +100mg/kg LYC1, (iv) Basal diet+100µg/kg AFB1 +200mg/kg LYC2, and (v) Basal diet+100µg/kg AFB1 +400mg/kg LYC3. The results showed that the addition of LYC to AFB1 contaminated broiler diets significantly increased (p<.05) average daily gain (ADG) and decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to the AFB1 diet. AFB1 diet decreased the intestinal villus height (VH) and crypt depth ratio (VCR) while increasing the crypt depth (CD). However, dietary LYC supplemented diets relieved the intestinal morphological alterations. Dietary LYC supplementation (200 and 400mg/kg) significantly improved (p<.05) intestinal digestive enzyme amylase and lipase activities with AFB1 contaminated diet. These findings suggested that LYC is a promising feed supplement in the broiler industry, alleviating the harmful effects of AFB1 .