Effect of savory (Satureja khuzestanica) essential oil and commerical toxin binder on fertility, hatchability, and progeny performance in breeder quails fed aflatoxin contaminated diets

In order to evaluate the efficiency of savory essential oil and a commercial mycotoxin binder total of 120 breeder quail at 51 d of age were studied in a completely randomized design with 6 treatments and 4 replications (a male and four females) as follows:1- Negative control, 2- Positive control-fed diet contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (2.5 ppm), 3- Contaminated feed 300 ppm savory essential oil 4- Contaminated feed 600 ppm savory essential oils 5- Contaminated feed 900 ppm savory essential oils 6- Contaminated feed 2.5 g per kg commercial mycotoxin binder. The experimental period was 6 wks and the performance of progeny hatched from 1, 2 and 3 experimental groups was evaluated during 5 wks. Results showed a significant effect of treatments on the relative weight of the ovary, testis, foam gland size and the volume of foam produced in males)p≤ 0.01). Fertility and hatchability rate of eggs were significantly affected by the experimental treatments (p≤0.05). Evaluation of progeny performance of birds fed treatments showed significant effect on feed conversion ratio. The results show that the use of essential oil of savory at 300 ppm and commercial toxin binder (polysorb) can improve reproductive performance in quails fed aflatoxin B1.