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

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. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition