Effects of a multi-strain probiotics against aflatoxicosis in growing Japanese quails

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of a multi-strain probiotics (PRO) on growth performance and immune status of growing Japanese quails fed aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). A total of 320 quail chicks were assigned to 4 treatments, control (basal diet), AFB1 (basal diet+2.5 mg AFB1/kg), PRO (basal diet+150 mg PRO/kg), and AFB1+PRO (basal diet+2.5 mg AFB1 and 150 mg PRO/kg) with 4 replicate pens and 20 quails per pen. The quail chicks had free access to water and experimental diets from 7 to 35 d of age, and feed intake (FI) and body weight gain (BWG) were measured weekly. Overall feed intake and BWG were reduced in AFB1 treatment (P<0.05), but feeding probiotics improved those criteria in quails received dietary AFB1 (P<0.05). During 7-35 d of age, AFB1 increased FCR while the PRO supplementation decreased FCR in quails fed AFB1 diet (P<0.05). Moreover, FCR in AFB1+PRO treatment was better than PRO treatment (P<0.05). The most hypertrophy in internal organs (e.g., liver and spleen) and suppressed growth in testes and bursa of Fabricius were observed in AFB1 group but feeding PRO improved the status of these organs (P<0.05). The humoral (e.g., antibody response against sheep red blood cell antigen) and cellular responses (e.g., skin thickness against 2,4-Dinitro 1-chlorobenzene) were suppressed in quails fed AFB1 but feeding PRO boosted those immune systems (P<0.05). The use of AFB1 in diet invariably increased the levels of aspartate transaminase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase in the sera of Japanese quails (P<0.05). The opposite effect was observed for aforementioned enzymes because of PRO in the diets. This study showed that under aflatoxicosis, the use of dietary multi-strain probiotics could improve the growth performance and immunocompetence in growing Japanese quails.