Effect of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on reduction of aflatoxicosis, enhancement of growth performance and expression of neural and gonadal genes in Japanese quail

The present investigation was designed to evaluate the role of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) in the reduction of aflatoxicosis induced by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in Japanese quail. Sixty male quail were used and distributed into six groups. The first group received basal diet. The other five groups received the basal diet plus 0.5 mg AFB1/kg diet. Four of them received increasing levels of SC (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5 gm/kg diet, respectively). All groups received their prospective diets for 35 days. The birds were weighed weekly to determine body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG). The results showed that addition of the SC to AFB1-containing diet significantly reduced the adverse affect of AFB1 on quail BW and BWG. The concentrations of AFB1 had been lowered in the breast muscle and liver samples of quail fed diet containing AFB1 plus SC than those found in such quail organs of AFB1 group. The expression levels of neural and gonadal genes were significantly up-regulated in quail fed diet containing AFB1 plus high levels of SC compared to those of AFB1 group. It could be concluded that SC supplementation to quail diets suppressed the aflatoxicosis in quail tissues leading to improvement of growth performances and enhancement of expression levels of neural and gonadal genes. Thus, the use of HPLC and gene expression analysis might contribute in detecting aflatoxin contamination in the poultry industry in Egypt. [Mariam G. Eshak, Wagdy K.B. Khalil, Eman M. Hegazy, Ibrahim M. Farag, M. Fadel and Farid K.R. Stino. Effect of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on reduction of aflatoxicosis, enhancement of growth performance and expression of neural and gonadal genes in Japanese quail. Journal of American Science 2010;6(12):824-838]. (ISSN: 15451003). http://www.americanscience.org.