Nigella sativa (black cumin seed) as a biological detoxifier in diet contaminated with aflatoxin B1

Abstract

Aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁ ) is a common feed contaminant that adversely affects bird performance and product quality. A total of 600 7-day-old quail chicks were randomly allotted to eight experimental groups in a completely randomized design with five replicate pens and 15 quails per pen. Experimental treatments including two levels of AFB₁ (0 and 2.5 mg/kg) and 4 levels of Nigella sativa (NS) (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% of diet) were offered from 7 to 35 days of age to quail chicks. Although feeding of AFB₁ impaired gain (G) and feed conversion ratio, dietary NS increased G (p < 0.05). Relative weight of bursa of Fabricius increased with incremental levels of NS (p < 0.05). AFB₁ decreased the size of heart, but incremental levels of NS increased the relative weight of heart (p < 0.05). The liver hypertrophy was observed in birds receiving AFB₁ (p < 0.05). The birds in AFB₁ group had smaller testes than other groups (p < 0.05). Hematocrit value in birds fed AFB₁ was lower than that in other groups (p < 0.05) and incremental levels of NS increased blood hematocrit (p < 0.05). Amount of malondialdehyde (MDA) in meat samples of the birds fed AFB₁ was higher than those did not receive toxin but incremental levels of NS decreased the MDA concentration in affected birds (p < 0.05). AFB₁ suppressed the humoral immunity of the birds while NS augmented the antibody titres against sheep red blood cell and Newcastle disease virus antigens (p < 0.05). AFB₁ decreased lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and spore-forming bacteria (SFB) but increased Escherichia coli (E. coli; p < 0.05). However, NS increased LAB and SFB but decreased the E. coli populations (p < 0.05). This study revealed that NS as a biological detoxifier could relatively attenuate the negative effects of AFB₁ in quails.

Keywords: Japanese quail; black cumin; immunity; meat quality; performance.