Mitigation potential of distillery sludge against ochratoxin A induced immunological alterations in broiler chicks
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a potent mycotoxin injurious to poultry health and an alarming factor for poultry industry while distillery sludge (DS) is a waste product of molasses based industries rich in proteins and certain essential vitamins and other nutrients. The present study was done to estimate the immunological alterations induced by OTA in broiler chicks and amelioration of these alterations by dietary supplementation of DS. For this purpose, 480 one-day old broiler chicks procured from a local hatchery, were divided into sixteen equal groups and were given different combinations of OTA (150, 300 and 1000 µg/kg feed) and DS (5, 10 and 20 g/kg feed). Parameters studied were antibodies response to sheep red blood cells (SRBCs), lymphoproliferative response to PHA-P and phagocytic index as studied by carbon clearance assay. The results of this study showed that feeding DS with 150 and 300 µg/kg OTA ameliorated OTA induced alterations, but this amelioration was partial when 1000 µg/kg OTA was used along with DS. From this study it could be concluded that DS has beneficial effects in birds suffering from ochratoxicosis. However, the proper level of DS to produce such mitigation against specific level of OTA is yet to be determined.