DefinePK

Abstract

A biological experiment was conducted to evaluate the interactive effects of organic and inorganic copper (Cu) supplementation with aflatoxin (AF) on growth performance of broilers. Day old broiler chicks were randomly divided into nine treatments of three replicates each containing ten birds per replicate. A 3×3 factorial design involving 9 treatments groups was formulated with 3 levels of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) i.e. 0.0, 0.5 and 1.0 ppm and 3 Cu supplemented group, i.e. 0 ppm, 40 ppm organic Cu (as propionate), 40 ppm inorganic Cu (as sulphate). The study was made for 0-42 days and performance of broiler i.e. body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and livability were analyzed. The result revealed that the body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly depressed in a dose dependent fashion due to dietary AF levels. The mean BWG showed a significant difference due to Cu supplementation and were highest in Cu chelate group followed by control and it was lowest in Cu inorganic group. The FI and FCR did not differ significantly due to different Cu supplementations. The interaction effect showed that BWG , FI and FCR were highest in all Cu groups at basal AF level and lowest in Cu inorganic group at 1 ppm AF level, while the mean BWG of other groups were found to be intermediary. The livability was highest in basal level followed by 0.5 ppm AF level and it was lowest in 1 ppm AF level. The livability did not differ significantly due to different Cu supplementation. Similarly, the livability percentage among treatments did not differ significantly due to interaction of Cu supplementation with AF levels. It is concluded that there was a difference between organic and inorganic copper in counteracting the effect of aflatoxicosis in broiler chicken.