Full Length Research Paper

Influence of different levels of n-3 supplemented (fish oil) diet on performance, carcass quality and fat status in broilers

Y. Chashnidel1*, H. Moravej1, A. Towhidi1, F. Asadi2 and S. Zeinodini1

1Department of Animal Sciences, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2Department of biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: ychashnidel2002@yahoo.com. Tel: +989113544253. Fax: +981513822565.

Abbreviations: LDL-c, etc

Accepted 5 October, 2009

   Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate fish oil as n-3 fatty acids source on some performance, carcass and serum parameters in broilers. One-day old Ross strain male broiler chickens (n = 120) were randomly arranged in four dietary treatments (0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 percent fish oil), with three replicates for each treatment. Mean live weight and feed intake at the end of starting, growing and finishing periods in fourth treatment was lower than other treatments. All treatments containing fish oil significantly decreased feed conversion ratio compared to control treatment. There were no significant differences on percent of carcass to live weight and abdominal fat percentage to carcass weight in T2, T3 and T4, but there were significant differences between control diet and the others. Serum triglycerides, cholesterol, LDL-c and VLDL-c concentrations were significantly reduced by fish oil treatments than the control diet, but serum HDL-c concentrations were significantly increased by using of diets containing fish oil. The results of this experiment indicated that dietary supplementation of fish oil improved feed conversion ratio, carcass quality and HDL-c concentration in serum, but it decreased serum triglycerides, cholesterol, LDL-c and VLDL-c concentrations in serum of broiler chickens.

Key words: Fish oil, serum cholesterol, carcass quality, broiler.