Berberine Improves Meat Quality and Carcass Traits in Broilers Challenged with Mycotoxins

Mycotoxin-contaminated feed causes significant concern in poultry production and public health because of serious economic losses and health problems caused by them. Berberine hydrochloride (Berberine), a natural plant alkaloid derived from Chinese medicine, is characterized by diverse pharmacological effects. This study is designed to evaluate the effects of different levels of Berberine (BBR) on carcass traits and meat quality of broilers fed diets contaminated with Aflatoxin B1(AFB) and OchratoxinA (OCT).

A 42-day floor pen trial was performed with 288 Ross 308 broilers. A randomized design, with 4 replicates of 8 birds each, was conducted with the following 9 treatments: (1) negative control diet with no additives (NC); (2) NC + 2ppm AFB (positive control AFB; PCAFB); (3) NC+2 ppm OCT (positive control OCT; PCOCT); (4) PCAFB+200mg/kg BBR; (5) PCAFB+400mg/kg BBR; (6) PCAFB+600mg/kg BBR; (7) PCOCT+200mg/kg BBR; (8) PCOCT + 400 mg/kg BBR; and (9) PCOCT + 600mg/kg BBR. At the end of the experiment, from every group, eight birds were selected, slaughtered, and subjected to analyses. The analyzed parameters carcass and cut yields and meat quality according to water-holding capacity (WHC) and breast level MDA.

Both PCAFBand PCOTA diets decreased carcass relative weight, breast level MDA, and WHC values compared with the NC diet (p<0.05). Meat level of MDA in PCAFB and PCOTA treatments were higher than in the NC treatment (p˂0.05), and supplementation with BBR at multiplelevels partially these effects (p˂0.05). The addition of 600mg/kg BBR to PCAFB diets increased WHC value to levels not different from that in the NC group (p>0.05). Carcass efficiency in PCAFB and PCOTA treatments was lower than in the NC treatment (p˂0.05), and supplementation with BBR at multiple levels partially or fully reversed these effects. The addition of 600 mg/kg BBR to PCAFB diet increased carcass relative weight compared to PCAFB alone (p>0.05).

These data provided supplementationof BBR (600mg/kg) improves meat quality in broiler fed diet contaminated with mycotoxins