Effect of Silibum marianum seed and Thymus vulgaris powders and their combination on some carcass chracteristices, blood metaboiltes and immune system responses of broilers fed aflatoxin B1 contaminated diet

In order to assess the effects of Silibum marianum seed(SMS) and Thymus vulgaris (TM)powderson carcass traits, some blood metabolites and immune system responses of chickens which fed by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contaminated diet (2 mg/kg) during 1 to 21 d of age, a total of 200 male broilers (Ross 308) were used in completely randomized design with five treatments and four replicates (10 birds per replicate). The experimental dietary treatments included: 1) control diet (without contamination, negative control), 2) AFB1 contaminated diet (positive control), 3) AFB1 contaminated diet 1% SMS, 4) AFB1 contaminated diet 1 % TM, 5) AFB1 contaminated diet 1% SMS 1 % TM. The results of current study indicated that feeding AFB1 containing diet increased liver weight compared with 1 and 3 groups and supplementation of AFB1 contaminated diet with SMS attenuated effects of AFB1 on liver weight (P0.05), while supplementation of AFB1 contaminated diets with SMS and SMS and TM combination significantly increased lymphocyte proliferation test and respiratory burst in monocytes (P