title: Effects of maternal dietary EPA and DHA supplementation and breeder age on embryonic and post-hatch performance of broiler offspring: age and n-3 pufa affect embryonic and post-hatch performance.
abstract: Breeder age and nutrition are amongst the most important factors affecting progeny growth and development. The present experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of n-3 fatty acid (FA), with special emphasis on the ratio of eicosapentaenoic (EPA, 20:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6 n-3) acid, provided to the diet of ageing broiler breeder hens at different ratios, on the incubation parameters and the performance of the offspring. Four hundred and eighty Ross-308 broiler breeder hens were fed one of four different diets (120/treatment), with an equal fat content. The control diet was a basal diet, rich in n-6 FAs (CON). Blends of fish oil were used to enrich the three other diets in n-3 FA and to obtain different EPA/DHA ratios of 1/1 (EPA=DHA), 1/2 (DHA) or 2/1 (EPA). Every 5 weeks, incubation parameters were assessed. Every 15 weeks, offspring was reared until slaughter age on a standard diet. Breeder age affected almost all incubation and post-hatch parameters, whereas n-3 FA treatment only lowered egg weight (p < 0.0001) and consequently hatched chick weight (p < 0.0001). Supplementation of EPA resulted in a higher proportional liver weight (p = 0.0219) at hatch, a lower body weight up to 28 days post-hatch (p = 0.0418), a lower daily weight gain (p = 0.0498) and a higher feed conversion ratio (p = 0.0395) during the starter period (p = 0.0498), resulting in a higher overall offspring feed conversion ratio (p = 0.0317) compared to the control diet. DHA supplementation, on the other hand, resulted in a lower residual yolk weight (p = 0.0220) and a higher overall offspring mortality (p = 0.0125). In conclusion, supplementation of n-3 FA could not counter the adverse effect of breeder flock age, but did not harm incubation or improve post-hatch performance, either. EPA and DHA affected offspring development differently during early post-hatch life.
authors: Laboratory of Livestock Physiology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) Animal Sciences Unit, Melle, Belgium.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Koppenol
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Delezie
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Franssens
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Willems
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Ampe
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Buyse
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Everaert
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D039382:Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid
keywords: broiler breeders; docosahexaenoic acid; eicosapentaenoic acid; embryonic development; omega-3 fatty acids; transgenerational effect