Effect of dietary palm kernel oil and biotin on the fatty liver and kidney syndrome in broiler chicken.

The effect of feeding biotin and palm kernel oil to broiler chicks on the appearance of Fatty Liver and Kidney Syndrome (FLKS) was investigated. A total of 480 broiler chicks was divided into two equal batches each of which was divided into 6 groups of 40 chicks per group. Each group was further subdivided into equal units of 20 chicks. Six dietary levels of biotin (40, 80, 120, 160, 200, and 240 mcg/kg feed) were given to the first batch of chicks, while the second batch had 2% palm kernel oil added to the six dietarybiotin levels. These two basic rations were supplemented with biotin in order to obtain six levels of the vitamin in the rations. The results showed that the 2% palm kernel oil forage affected FLKS mortality and the minimum biotin requirement. FLKS mortality was significantly reduced in case of palm kernel oil supplement. A lower amount of biotin (120 mcg/kg feed) was needed in case of palm kernel oil supplement-as compared with the necessary biotin (160 mcg/kg feed)-in order to prevent FLKS mortality when palm kernel oil was not contained in the rations. The biochemical analysis of the liver and kidney syndrome-coupled with the correlation and regression analysis of the data collected-showed that a minimum of 120 mcg/kg feed was needed by broiler chicks for the prevention of FLKS.