Effects of silymarin on productive performance, liver function and serum biochemical profile in broiler Japanese quail challenged with dietary aflatoxins

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredients and nutrient composition of the experimental diets for quail.

Ingredient, % as fed	Basal diet	Experimental diet
	No aflatoxin	With aflatoxin
Corn grain	53.23	49.82
Soybean meal	35.00	35.00
Gluten meal	7.60	7.53
Rice^a	0.00	3.35
Calcium carbonate	1.37	1.36
Dicalcium phosphate	0.97	0.97
Sunflower oil	0.60	0.76
Sodium chloride	0.26	0.26
Sodium bicarbonate	0.13	0.12
l-Lysine HCl – 79%	0.20	0.19
l-Threonine	0.14	0.14
Mineral premix^b	0.25	0.25
Vitamin premix^c	0.25	0.25
Total	100.00	100.00
Calculated composition
Metabolizable energy (Kcal/kg)	2900	2900
Crude protein (%)	24.00	24.00
Calcium (%)	0.80	0.80
Available phosphorus (%)	0.30	0.30
Lysine (%)	1.30	1.30
Methionine (%)	0.50	0.50
Methionine + Cysteine (%)	0.75	0.75
Threonine (%)	1.02	1.02
Tryptophan (%)	0.22	0.22
Sodium (%)	0.15	0.15
Chloride (%)	0.14	0.14
Potassium (%)	0.40	0.40
DEB^d (mEq/kg)	238	235
Total aflatoxin (mg/kg)	0.00	2.20

^a Rice was contaminated with aflatoxins; 65.7 mg/kg.

^b Mineral premix provided per kilogram of diet: Mn (from MnSO4·H2O), 65 mg; Zn (from ZnO), 55 mg; Fe (from FeSO4·7H2O), 50 mg; Cu (from CuSO4·5H2O), 8 mg; I [from Ca (IO3)2·H2O], 1.8 mg; Se, 0.30 mg; Co (fromCo2O3), 0.20 mg; Mo, 0.16 mg.

^c Vitamin premix provided per kilogram of diet: vitamin A (from vitamin A acetate), 11,500 IU; cholecalciferol,2100 IU; vitamin E (from dl-α-tocopheryl acetate), 22 IU; vitamin B12, 0.60 mg; riboflavin, 4.4 mg; nicotinamide,40 mg; calcium pantothenate, 35 mg; menadione (from menadione dimethyl-pyrimidinol), 1.50 mg; folic acid,0.80 mg; thiamine, 3 mg; pyridoxine, 10 mg; biotin, 1 mg; choline chloride, 560 mg; ethoxyquin, 125 mg.

^d Dietary Electrolyte Balance: represents dietary Na + K − Cl in mEq/kg of diet.

Table 2. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on productive performance of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	FI, g/day/bird	DWG, g/day/bird	FCR, g:g	Mort., %	EPI
0		21.6000^a	6.7000^a	3.2200	0.8300^b	20.97^a
2.2		20.4000^b	6.3000^b	3.2500	6.2500^a	18.6700^b
SEM		0.2000	0.0000	0.0300	1.4700	0.4200
	0	21.1000	6.3000^b	3.3300^a	4.3800	18.6900^b
	1000	20.8000	6.7000^a	3.1100^b	3.7500	21.1000^a
	2000	21.0000	6.4000^b	3.2600^a	2.5000	19.6600^ab
	SEM	0.2000	0.0000	0.0400	1.8000	0.5200
0	0	21.7000	6.6000^b	3.2800	2.5000	19.9900
0	1000	21.7000	7.1000^a	3.0700	0.0000	23.0000
0	2000	21.3000	6.4000^cd	3.3000	0.0000	19.9100
2.2	0	20.5000	6.1000^e	3.3800	6.2500	17.3900
2.2	1000	19.9000	6.3000^cd	3.1400	7.5000	19.1900
2.2	2000	20.8000	6.5000^c	3.2200	5.0000	19.4100
SEM	0.3000	0.1000	0.0500	0.0500	0.7300
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.0002	<.0001	0.4446	0.0181	0.0012
Silymarin		0.6925	<.0001	0.0016	0.7590	0.0142
Interaction		0.1202	<.0001	0.2015	0.7590	0.1024

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

FI: Feed intake (g/day/bird); DWG: Daily weight gain (g/day/bird); FCR: Feed conversion ratio (g:g); Mort.: Mortality (%); EPI: European production index; SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 80).

Table 3. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on feed intake of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	FI, g/day/bird
		7–14 d	15–21 d	22–28 d	29–35 d	7–21 d	7–28 d	7–35 d
0		14.8000	22.3000^a	25.9000^a	23.3000^a	18.5000	21.0000^a	21.6000^a
2.2		14.6000	21.4000^b	24.4000^b	21.3000^b	18.0000	20.1000^b	20.4000^b
SEM		0.2000	0.3000	0.3000	0.3000	0.2000	0.2000	0.2000
	0	14.7000	21.9000	25.2000	22.6000	18.3000	20.6000	21.1000
	1000	14.6000	21.7000	24.9000	22.1000	18.1000	20.4000	20.8000
	2000	14.7000	21.9000	25.3000	22.2000	18.3000	20.6000	21.0000
	SEM	0.3000	0.3000	0.4000	0.4000	0.2000	0.2000	0.2000
0	0	14.9000	22.3000	25.9000	23.7000	18.6000	21.0000	21.7000
0	1000	14.6000	22.5000	26.0000	23.8000	18.5000	21.0000	21.7000
0	2000	14.9000	21.9000	25.7000	22.5000	18.4000	20.8000	21.3000
2.2	0	14.6000	21.5000	24.5000	21.6000	18.0000	20.1000	20.5000
2.2	1000	14.6000	20.9000	23.9000	20.5000	17.8000	19.7000	19.9000
2.2	2000	14.6000	21.9000	24.9000	21.9000	18.2000	20.4000	20.8000
SEM		0.3000	0.4000	0.5000	0.5000	0.6000	0.3000	0.3000
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.5427	0.0483	0.0043	0.0007	0.0730	0.0058	0.0002
Silymarin		0.9136	0.8948	0.7516	0.6940	0.8836	0.7533	0.6925
Interaction		0.9399	0.3478	0.4841	0.1012	0.6857	0.4622	0.1202

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

FI: Feed intake (g/day/bird); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 80).

Table 4. Effects of Silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on daily weight gain of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	DWG, g/day/bird
		7–14 d	15–21 d	22–28 d	29–35 d	7–21 d	7–28 d	7–35 d
0		7.3000^a	8.6000^a	7.1000^a	3.9000	8.0000^a	7.7000^a	6.7000^a
2.2		6.9000^b	8.1000^b	6.6000^b	3.5000	7.5000^b	7.2000^b	6.3000^b
SEM		0.0000	0.1000	0.2000	0.2000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000
	0	7.1000^b	8.2000^b	6.5000	3.6000	7.6000^b	7.3000^b	6.3000^b
	1000	7.3000^a	8.5000^a	7.1000	3.9000	7.9000^a	7.6000^a	6.7000^a
	2000	7.0000^b	8.4000^ab	6.8000	3.6000	7.7000^b	7.4000^b	6.4000^b
	SEM	0.1000	0.1000	0.2000	0.2000	0.0000	0.1000	0.0000
0	0	7.3000^b	8.3000^bc	7.0000	3.9000	7.8000^b	7.5000^b	6.6000^b
0	1000	7.8000^a	8.9000^a	7.4000	4.2000	8.3000^a	8.0000^a	7.1000^a
0	2000	7.0000^c	8.5000^b	6.7000	3.6000	7.7000^bc	7.4000^bc	6.4000^cd
2.2	0	6.8000^c	8.0000^c	6.0000	3.3000	7.4000^d	7.0000^e	6.1000^e
2.2	1000	6.9000^c	8.1000^c	6.8000	3.6000	7.5000^d	7.3000^cd	6.3000^cd
2.2	2000	7.0000^bc	8.2000^bc	6.9000	3.6000	7.6000^bc	7.4000^bcd	6.5000^c
SEM		0.3000	0.1000	0.1000	0.3000	0.3000	0.1000	0.1000
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		<.0001	<.0001	0.0357	0.2205	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001
Silymarin		0.0012	0.0251	0.1153	0.6613	<.0001	0.0005	<.0001
Interaction		<.0001	0.0178	0.1151	0.5486	<.0001	0.0007	<.0001

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

DWG: Daily weight gain (g/day/bird); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 80).

Table 5. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on feed conversion ratio of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	FCR, g:g
		7–14 d	15–21 d	22–28 d	29–35 d	7–21 d	7–28 d	7–35 d
0		2.0200	2.6000	3.6800	6.0900	2.3300	2.7400	3.2200
2.2		2.1100	2.6400	3.7500	6.3600	2.3900	2.7900	3.2500
SEM		0.0400	0.0400	0.0900	0.3100	0.0300	0.0300	0.0300
	0	2.0900	2.6800	3.8700	6.4300	2.4000	2.8400^a	3.3300^a
	1000	1.9900	2.5600	3.5400	6.0600	2.3000	2.6700^b	3.1100^b
	2000	2.1000	2.6200	3.7400	6.2000	2.3800	2.7900^ab	3.2600^a
	SEM	0.0400	0.0500	0.1100	0.3800	0.0300	0.0300	0.0400
0	0	2.0500	2.6900	3.6900	6.1900	2.3900	2.7900	3.2800
0	1000	1.8800	2.5200	3.5300	5.7400	2.2200	2.6200	3.0700
0	2000	2.1300	2.5900	3.8400	6.3500	2.3800	2.8200	3.3000
2.2	0	2.1300	2.6800	4.0600	6.6700	2.4200	2.8900	3.3800
2.2	1000	2.1100	2.6000	3.5500	6.3800	2.3700	2.7200	3.1400
2.2	2000	2.0800	2.6500	3.6400	6.0500	2.3800	2.770	3.2200
SEM		0.3000	0.0600	0.0700	0.1600	0.5400	0.0400	0.0500
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.1067	0.4300	0.6181	0.5468	0.0987	0.2341	0.4446
Silymarin		0.2045	0.2104	0.1296	0.7828	0.0612	0.0085	0.0016
Interaction		0.1058	0.7648	0.2103	0.6467	0.2081	0.2251	0.2015

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

FCR: Feed conversion ratio (g:g); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 80).

Table 6. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on hepatic enzyme concentrations of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	ALT, U/L	AST, U/L	ALK, U/L
0		14.1250^b	200.9580	1553.1250^b
2.2		18.1250^a	196.9580	1743.9580^a
SEM		0.9720	4.7540	57.3950
	0	20.6880^a	215.9380^a	1832.8130^a
	1000	14.7500^b	201.5000^a	1677.1880^ab
	2000	12.9380^b	179.4380^b	1435.6250^b
	SEM	1.1910	5.8230	70.2940
0	0	15.2500^b	210.3750^ab	1696.2500
0	1000	14.8750^b	197.2500^abcd	1674.3750
0	2000	12.2500^b	195.2500^bcd	1288.7500
2.2	0	26.1250^a	221.5000^a	1969.3750
2.2	1000	14.6250^b	205.7500^abc	1680.0000
2.2	2000	13.6250^b	163.6250^e	1582.5000
SEM		1.6840	8.2340	99.4110
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.0094	0.5593	0.0303
Silymarin		0.0006	0.0012	0.0031
Interaction		0.0081	0.0311	0.2951

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

ALT: Alanine amino transferase (U/L); AST: Aspartate amino transferase (U/L); ALK: Alkaline phosphatase (U/L); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 8).

Table 7. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on serum biochemical profile concentrations of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	TP, g/dL	GLO, g/dL	ALB, g/dL	ALB:GLO, g/dL:g/dL	BUN, mg/dL	CRE, mg/dL	UA, mg/dL	Ca, mg/dL	Pho, mg/dL	GLU, mg/dL
0		2.7540^a	1.0060	1.7480	1.8170	2.1000	0.3880^a	5.8190^b	9.5790^a	7.4710	323.4170
2.2		2.5130^b	0.8900	1.6230	1.9040	1.8230	0.3300^b	6.7700^a	8.8460^b	7.5170	313.5420
SEM		0.0760	0.0430	0.0710	0.1010	0.1610	0.0100	0.3140	0.1530	0.2010	5.0560
	0	2.5880	0.9270	1.6610	1.8830	1.8120	0.3610	6.0440	9.1560	7.0690^b	331.9380^a
	1000	2.5440	0.9010	1.6430	1.8630	1.8820	0.3440	5.8840	9.4000	7.3940^ab	326.0000^a
	2000	2.7690	1.0160	1.7530	1.8360	2.1910	0.3710	6.9550	9.0810	8.0190^a	297.5000^b
	SEM	0.0930	0.0520	0.0860	0.1240	0.1970	0.0120	0.3840	0.1880	0.2460	6.1920
0	0	2.7250	1.0090	1.7160	1.7790	2.2990	0.4030	4.9250	9.8250^ab	7.0880	353.8750^a
0	1000	2.5630	0.9740	1.5890	1.6360	1.8810	0.3830	5.7810	10.0630^a	7.7130	328.1250^ab
0	2000	2.9750	1.0350	1.9400	2.0380	2.1200	0.3780	6.7500	8.8500^cd	7.6130	288.2500^d
2.2	0	2.4500	0.8450	1.6050	1.9870	1.3250	0.3190	7.1630	8.4880^d	7.0500	310.0000^bcd
2.2	1000	2.5250	0.82800	1.6980	2.0910	1.8830	0.3060	5.9880	8.7380^cd	7.0750	323.8750^bc
2.2	2000	2.5630	0.9960	1.5660	1.6350	2.2610	0.3640	7.1600	9.3130^abc	8.4250	306.7500^bcd
SEM	0.3000	0.1320	0.0740	0.1220	0.1750	0.2780	0.0170	0.5430	0.2660	0.3480
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.0376	0.0706	0.2247	0.5504	0.2383	0.0005	0.0460	0.0033	0.8737	0.1841
Silymarin		0.2221	0.2908	0.6336	0.9655	0.3705	0.3104	0.1332	0.4705	0.0406	0.0021
Interaction		0.3753	0.6649	0.1705	0.0659	0.1207	0.0997	0.1492	0.0041	0.1408	0.0075

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

TP: Total protein (mg/dL); ALB: Albumin (mg/dL); GLOB: Globulin (mg/dL); ALB:GLO : Albumin: Globulin Ratio; BUN: Blood urea nitrogen (mg/dL); CRE: Creatinine (mg/dL); UA: Uric acid (mg/dL); Ca: Calcium (mg/dL); Pho: Phosphorous (mg/dL); GLU; Glucose (mg/dL); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 8).

Table 8. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on serum concentration of bilirubin and lipid profile concentrations of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	CHOL, mg/dL	LDL, mg/dL	HDL, mg/dL	TG, mg/dL	TB, mg/dL	DB, mg/dL	IB, mg/dL
0		196.9580^a	86.0920^a	109.8330^a	98.7500	0.2030	0.0330	0.1700
2.2		157.0000^b	52.8170^b	86.3750^b	89.0830	0.1960	0.0330	0.1630
SEM		8.7400	7.1020	4.9740	5.1970	0.0100	0.0030	0.0080
	0	181.1880	89.9380^a	94.0000	114.3750^a	0.1980	0.0330	0.1640
	1000	170.0630	53.9130^b	105.8750	75.7500^b	0.2140	0.0360	0.1790
	2000	179.6880	64.5130^ab	94.4380	91.6250^ab	0.1860	0.0310	0.1550
	SEM	10.7040	8.6990	6.0920	6.3650	0.0120	0.0030	0.0100
0	0	221.0000	135.3750^a	106.7500	150.6250^a	0.2100	0.0350	0.1750
0	1000	172.7500	53.2000^b	117.8750	57.0000^e	0.2110	0.0340	0.1780
0	2000	197.1250	69.7000^b	104.8750	88.6250^bcd	0.1880	0.0310	0.1560
2.2	0	141.3750	44.5000^b	81.2500	78.1250^bcde	0.1850	0.0310	0.1540
2.2	1000	167.3750	54.6250^b	93.8750	94.5000^bc	0.2180	0.0380	0.1800
2.2	2000	162.2500	59.3250^b	84.0000	94.6250^b	0.1850	0.0310	0.1540
SEM	0.3	15.1380	12.3020	8.6160	9.0020	0.0170	0.0050
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		0.0046	0.0039	0.0037	0.2050	0.6211	1.0000	0.5370
Silymarin		0.7316	0.0255	0.3181	0.0017	0.2849	0.6548	0.2484
Interaction		0.0723	0.0027	0.9633	<.0001	0.6528	0.7327	0.6681

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p < .05).

CHOL: Cholesterol (mg/dL); LDL: Low density lipoprotein (mg/dL); HDL: High density lipoprotein (mg/dL); TG: Triglyceride (mg/dL); TB: Total bilirubin (mg/dL); DB: Direct bilirubin (mg/dL); IB: Indirect bilirubin (mg/dL); SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 8).

Table 9. Effects of silymarin in aflatoxin contaminated diets on relative weight of internal organs of Japanese quail during Days 7–35 of age.

Aflatoxin, mg/kg	Silymarin, mg/kg	Liver, %	Testis, %	Pancreas, %	Spleen, %
0		1.8690^b	1.5010^a	0.2330	0.0830^b
2.2		2.1580^a	1.0630^b	0.2660	0.0990^a
SEM		0.0230	0.0280	0.0120	0.0020
	0	2.3520^a	1.0400^c	0.2730	0.1290^a
	1000	1.8020^b	1.3230^b	0.2420	0.0630^c
	2000	1.8870^b	1.4830^a	0.2340	0.0820^b
	SEM	0.0280	0.0340	0.0140	0.0030
0	0	2.1100^b	1.4120^bcd	0.2480	0.1060^b
0	1000	1.7910^d	1.5610^a	0.2330	0.0740^d
0	2000	1.7050^d	1.5310^ab	0.2190	0.0710^d
2.2	0	2.5930^a	0.6670^f	0.2970	0.1520^a
2.2	1000	1.8130^d	1.0840^e	0.2510	0.0520^e
2.2	2000	2.0680^bc	1.4360^abc	0.2490	0.0920^c
SEM		0.3000	0.0390	0.0480	0.0200
Analysis of variance results
Aflatoxin		<.0001	<.0001	0.0629	0.0001
Silymarin		<.0001	<.0001	0.1512	<.0001
Interaction		<.0001	<.0001	0.7317	<.0001

^a,bMeans within the same column with different letters are significantly different by Tukey test (p<.05).

SEM: standard error of the mean (n = 8).