THE USE OF SACCHAROMYCES-CEREVISIAE TO SUPPRESS THE EFFECTS OF AFLATOXICOSIS IN BROILER CHICKS

Three hundred and sixty day-old commercial broiler chicks were assigne d to a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to examine the effect s of three levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae 0, .05, and .1% of feed, and two levels of aflatoxin, 0 and 5 ppm, singly and in combination o n aflatoxicosis. Each treatment group was replicated three times. The S. cerevisiae and aflatoxin were incorporated in a standard commercial broiler ration and fed to chicks for 4 wk. Data were collected weekly on body weights, and at the end of the experiment on the relative wei ghts of the liver, proventriculus, pancreas, and heart. Serum concentr ations of the albumin, total protein, cholesterol, uric acid, triglyce rides, and enzyme activities of alamine transaminase, aspartate aminot ransferase, lactase dehydrogenase, and creatine phosphokinase were als o evaluated. Results showed that chicks receiving aflatoxin-contaminat ed feed had suppressed body weight (456 g), which significantly improv ed (516 g) with the inclusion of .1% S. cerevisiae. The relative weigh ts of liver (3.58%), heart (.916%), and proventriculus (.770%), which increased significantly with the addition of 5 ppm of aflatoxin, were restored to 3.00, .783, and .680%, respectively, with the dietary incl usion of .1% S. cerevisiae. The serum concentrations of albumin and to tal protein (.66 and 1.62 g/100 mL), which were significantly decrease d by aflatoxin, were elevated to.88 and 2.24 g/100 mL, respectively, w ith the inclusion of .1% S. cerevisiae. The activities of the enzymes, alamine transaminase, and creatine phosphokinase, which were also sig nificantly depressed by aflatoxin, were restored to the control level. The activity of aspartate aminotransferase was increased but not to t he activity level of the control with the inclusion of S. cerevisiae.