Abstract. A study was conducted to investigate the capability of Myrtus communis essential oil (MCE) in counteracting the deleterious effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on growth performance, serum biochemistry and humoral immune responses in broiler chickens. In a completely randomized design, 300 day-old male chicks were assigned to four treatments with five replicates of 15 birds for 42 days. Chickens, up to day 7 of age, were fed the same diet and then, they were fed the experimental diets. The dietary treatments were 1) the negative control (no dietary aflatoxin or MCE), 2) the positive control (diet containing AFB1 at 0.5 mg/kg, without MCE), 3) diet containing AFB1 at 0.5 mg/kg plus 500 mg/kg MCE, and 4) basal diet containing 500 mg/kg MCE, without AFB1. Growth performance was measured from day 7 to 42. Serum biochemical parameters, organ weights on day 42 and the antibody titers against Newcastle and influenza viruses on day 28 of age were determined. Addition of aflatoxin to diet decreased (P<0.05) the weight gain and feed intake and MCE supplementation diminished (P<0.05) the inhibitory effects of AFB1 on the growth performance. Addition of AFB1 to diet of chicks increased the serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and decreased the antibody titers against Newcastle and influenza viruses. Addition of MCE to diet alleviated the negative effects of AFB1 on these parameters (P<0.05). In conclusion, our results showed that addition of MCE may reduce the adverse effects of AFB1 on broiler chickens.

The effects of diets containing different levels of essential oils from savory Satureja khuzestanica Jamzad and myrtle Myrtus communis L and an immunity complement were investigated on growth, survival, nutritional indices, serum biochemistry, and hematology of farmed rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, fry (n = 4500; 5 ± 2 g). The essential oils were dosed as 300 and 500 mg/kg diet. After 60 d, the fish fed 300 mg/kg of the essential oils showed the highest counts of white blood cells (P < 0.05). The same treatment revealed the greatest levels of hematocrit, total protein, and albumin, but glucose and cholesterol values significantly decreased compared with the control (P < 0.05). Feeding fish with 300 mg/kg of the essential oils led to highest records of specific growth rate and survival rate but the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR), and those fed with immunity complement attained the lowest values of growth parameters. The fry fed with immunity complement and 300 mg/kg of myrtle essential oil achieved the highest and lowest FCR values, respectively. The results indicate that dietary supplementation of 300 mg/kg of the above essential oils exert positive impacts on the growth performance, feeding efficiency, and hematological factors in O. mykiss.

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