Improving the lipid nutritive value of poultry meat through the incorporation of a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in the diet for broiler chicks.
Dehydrated forages are assumed to be good sources of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds (vitamin E homologs and beta-carotene). The effects of including a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in a typical diet for broiler chicken, on performance, meat quality, and fatty acid composition were evaluated. One hundred sixty 1-d-old male commercial broiler chicks (Ross 308) were housed in 20 battery brooders. During the 28-d growth period, the animals were fed ad libitum with a typical maize-soybean high-energy feed having access or not to a dehydrated leguminous-based forage provided in a separate feeder. The results revealed that dehydrated forage intake (which was 11.1% of the total intake) had no impact in broiler performance (P > 0.05). The capacity of ingested forage to modulate broiler meat fatty acid profile and the meat content in total cholesterol, tocopherols, tocotrienols, and beta-carotene was investigated in broiler chicks slaughtered at d 28. Dehydrated forage consumption had no effect on the lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds and cholesterol contents of broiler meat but had a significant effect on meat fatty acid profile. Although forage intake did not affect the linoleic acid and ALA contents in poultry meat, the levels of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [eicosapentaenoic (P = 0.004), docosapentaenoic (P = 0.010), and docosahexaenoic (P = 0.007)] in breast meat were significantly higher in animals consuming leguminous biomass, which suggest a higher conversion of ALA into its derivatives in these birds. Overall, the data confirms that incorporation of a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in the diet for broiler chicks results in more favorable polyunsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids and n-6/n-3 nutritional ratios for animals slaughtered at earlier stages of grow.
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Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal-Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal.
Prates
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JA
Crespo
J P
JP
Crespo
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DG
Mourão
J L
JL
Alves
S P
SP
Bessa
R J B
RJ
Chaveiro-Soares
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MA
Ferreira
L M A
LM
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D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D007887:Fabaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D024505:Tocopherols / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D024508:Tocotrienols / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D019207:beta Carotene / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D008055:Lipids; D024508:Tocotrienols; D019207:beta Carotene; D002784:Cholesterol; D024505:Tocopherols