The present study was conducted to evaluate the adverse effects of an interaction between low levels of dietary
aflatoxins (AF) and Eimeria tenella
infection on broiler chicks. A set of 1-day-old chicks were raised for 35 days in the following groups: a control group, a group fed AF, a group fed AF and inoculated with E. tenella (AF + E.ten), and a group inoculated with E. tenella alone. AF in the contaminated diet were given at 200 ppb starting from the seventh day after hatching while E. tenella was inoculated at a dose of 5 × 10(4) sporulated oocysts per chick at the 14th day after hatching. Worsened performance traits and high mortality were all observed in the treated birds, particularly the AF + E.ten group. Lesion scores and oocyst outputs were not different within groups. Chickens fed with AF had significantly increased serum ALT and ALP activities as well as decreased
albumin content. They also showed
hepatomegaly, hepatocytic vacuolation and
necrosis, an atrophied bursa of Fabricius, and a thymus with tissue depletion. E. tenella-infected broilers displayed a significant reduction in packed cell volume,
hemoglobin content and lymphocyte percentage, and showed hemorrhagic
typhlitis. The deficits in hepatic function and hematologic parameters as well as the gross pathological, and histopathological changes, were more common and more severe in the group that was exposed to both
aflatoxicosis and
coccidiosis than in the groups exposed to either treatment alone. Thus, the combination of
aflatoxicosis and E. tenella
infection may influence the course of coccidial
infection due to additive effects.