Effect of citric acid supplemented diets on aflatoxin degradation, growth performance and serum parameters in broiler chickens

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of citric acid (CA) on aflatoxin degradation, growth performance and some serum constituents in broilers. 300 one-day-old Ross broiler chickens were randomly divided into five treatment groups of three replicates, 20 chicks each. Four groups received the diet supplemented with CA (6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50 g/kg), while the other served as a control. Diet was prepared following the NRC guidelines and the experiment was terminated when chicks were 28 d old. The results showed that aflatoxins in the diet, at a concentration of 39 ng/g were almost degraded (92%) by the acidification procedure. In general, live body weight (LBW) was slightly higher in animals fed with the addition of CA; diet containing the highest concentration (50 g CA/kg) resulted in a significant increase in LBW and improvement of feed conversion ratio. However, as the CA concentration increased, higher serum aspartate aminotransferase activity values were registered. On the contrary, hematocrite, total protein and albumin were not affected by any level of added CA. From these results, it is concluded that dietary CA supplementation can be used as an additive to degrade aflatoxins in the ration as well as to promote growth performance in young broiler chickens.