Effects of Supplementing Different Levels of Vitamin A to Aflatoxin B1 Contaminated Diets on the Performance of Broiler Chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementing different levels of vitamin A on the performance of broiler chickens fed on diets contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) for 42 days. Conducted as a Completely Randomised Design, the study had 5 treatments, 3 replications and 10 chicks per experimental unit. Control/Treatment A had no AFB1 and vitamin A added. Other dietary treatments were contaminated with AFB1 at 35?g/kg. Except for Treatment B, the rest were supplemented with vitamin A at 3000, 6000 and 11000 IU/kg, respectively. In the Starter Phase, AFB1 significantly (P?0.05) reduced feed intake, bodyweight gains and feed conversion ratios. However, in the Grower and Finisher Phases, only bodyweight gains and feed conversion ratios were reduced. This affected final bodyweights and dressing out percentages, where those fed on contaminated diets performed poorly compared to those on Control diets. It was noted that performance of chickens improved significantly with increasing levels of vitamin A supplementation. The toxic effects of AFB1 on feed intake were ameliorated by dietary supplementation of vitamin A at 6000 IU/kg and above. However, amelioration of the deleterious effects of AFB1 on bodyweight gains and feed conversion ratios was achieved when vitamin A was supplemented in the diets at 3000 IU/kg. Levels of AFB1 contamination used in the current study did not cause any death. Contamination of broiler diets with AFB1 also significantly (P?0.05) decreased serum concentrations of total protein, albumin, triglyceride and cholesterol. Feeding AFB1-contaminated diets also increased the serum concentrations of alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransaminase. However, the serum concentrations of alanine aminotransaminase normalized when feed diets were supplemented with vitamin A at 11000 IU/kg. It was thus, concluded that supplementation of vitamin A to AFB1-contaminated rations has capacity to reduce toxic effects of AFB1 in broiler chickens.