ABSTRACT

Background and Aim: Naturally occurring co-contamination of poultry feed with multiple mycotoxins can compromise broiler health and productive performance. Phytogenic formulations may provide complementary nutritional support under these conditions; however, evidence from commercial production systems remains limited. This study evaluated growth performance, feed efficiency, blood biochemical responses, and survival of Cobb 500 broilers receiving a natural detoxifying additive containing cynarin, betaine, boldine, and allicin during natural multi-mycotoxin exposure.

Materials and Methods: A comparative 40-day commercial field study included 828 one-day-old Cobb 500 broilers allocated to male control, female control, male experimental, and female experimental groups (n = 207/group). The additive was administered at 1 mL/L of drinking water on days 3–5, 16–18, and 29–31. One commercial house received the additive, and one served as the untreated control; therefore, house was the experimental unit for supplementation (n = 1/treatment). Feed contained naturally occurring fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, and T-2 toxin. Growth, feed utilization, mortality, flock uniformity, and blood biochemical parameters were evaluated. Bird-level comparisons were adjusted for multiple testing using the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure.

Results: At day 40, supplemented males were 95.33 g heavier than control males (2403.68 vs. 2308.35 g; p < 0.001; q = 0.001), whereas the corresponding difference in females was 16.01 g. A significant sex × treatment interaction was detected for final body weight (p = 0.008). The supplemented house showed a higher European Efficiency Factor (348 vs. 326). Supplemented females had lower feed intake and feed conversion ratio (1.91 vs. 2.02) and no mortality (0/207 vs. 6/207; p = 0.030). Creatinine was lower in supplemented females on days 26 and 40, while gamma-glutamyl transferase activity was lower in supplemented males on day 15; these differences remained significant after false discovery rate adjustment.

Conclusion: Broilers in the supplemented house showed favorable productive and selected biochemical responses under natural multi-mycotoxin exposure. However, because supplementation was confounded with house, the findings cannot establish a causal additive effect. Replicated multi-house trials are required to confirm efficacy.

Keywords: blood biochemistry, broiler chickens, feed efficiency, growth performance, multi-mycotoxin exposure, phytogenic feed additives, poultry nutrition, survival.