Role of saccharomyces cerevisiae h. in enhancing growth and liver-kidney health in broilers fed natural aflatoxin-contaminated diet

Sustainable broiler growth and health require the use of natural and biologically safe strategies. This study investigated the effects of incorporating two levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae H. yeast into a diet naturally contaminated with aflatoxins on growth performance and hepatic and renal health indicators in broilers. A total of 200 one-day-old, unsexed Ross 308 chicks were randomly allocated to four treatment groups, with five replicates per group and 10 birds per replicate. Group T1 (negative control) received an uncontaminated basal diet. Group T2 (positive control) was fed a diet naturally contaminated with aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus L. Groups T3 and T4 received the contaminated diet supplemented with 0.1 and 0.2% S. cerevisiae, respectively. Compared to T2, T4 exhibited significantly improved performance, with increases in body weight (8%, 5%), weight gain (9%, 4%), and feed intake (5%, 2%), as well as reductions in feed conversion ratio (3%, 2%) at the end of phases one and two, respectively. Hepatic function markers improved, with decreased AST (22%, 16%) and ALT (12%, 3%) levels on days 21 and 42, respectively. Renal function was also enhanced, as indicated by reduced serum creatinine (13%, 10%) and uric acid (9%, 5%) levels. Additionally, relative liver and kidney weights were reduced by 13 and 11%, respectively, in T4 by day 42. These findings suggest that 0.2% yeast supplementation is more effective than 0.1% in mitigating the adverse effects of natural aflatoxins in broilers.