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Multiple dietary supplementations of omega 3 fatty acids and calcidiol on growth performance, health status, and tissue enrichments of broiler chickens

Published: October 14, 2022
By: Sahil Kalia*, Tao Sun, Andrew Magnuson, Ziqiao Sun, Xin Gen Lei / Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States.
Summary

The average US diet does not contain adequate long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), in particular omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, and 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 (calcidiol). Chicken meat is one of the most consumed animal-sourced proteins and an excellent candidate for enriching these nutrients. The present study was to determine effects of feeding microalgal DHA oil (Onavita, ADM, Decatur, IL), EPA-rich Nannochloropsis sp CO18 (MAGIC, Duke University, Beaufort, NC) and calcidiol (DSM, Parsippany, NJ) on growth performance, health status, and tissue enrichment of these nutrients in broiler chickens. Day-old Cornish male broiler chicks (total = 180) were divided in to 5 treatment groups (6 cages/treatment, 6 birds/cage). Birds were fed: Diet 1 = a corn-soybean meal basal diet (BD, control); Diet 2 = BD + DHA (1.5 g/kg for 0-3 wk and 3.0 g/kg for 4-6 wk); Diet 3 = Diet 2 + Nannochloropsis sp CO18 (0.3 g/kg for 0-3 wk and 0.6 g/kg for 4-6 wk); Diet 4 = Diet 2 + calcidiol (6,000 IU/kg for 0-3 wk and 12,000 IU/kg for 4-6 wk); and Diet 5 = Diet 3 + calcidiol ( 6,000 IU/kg for 0-3 wk and 12,000 IU/kg for 4-6 wk). Growth performance was recorded weekly. Blood, liver, breast, thigh, and adipose tissue were collected at wk 3 and 6 (2 chicks/cage) for biochemical analyses. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Birds fed Diet 3 had higher (P < 0.05) body weight gain and birds fed Diet 2 had higher (P < 0.05) gain:feed ratio (3.1-16%) at wk 6 than the other groups. Birds fed Diets 2-5 had higher (P < 0.05) DHA and n-3 PUFA concentrations (4-18-fold) and n3/n6 ratios (4-28-fold) in the liver, breast, and thigh than those in the control group at wk 6. Birds fed Diet 3 also had lower (P <0.05, 8%-54%) concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and non-esterified fatty acids in the plasma, liver, breast, and thigh than the control. Birds fed Diet 2 had lower (P <0.05) concentrations of plasma (22%) and tissue phospholipids (31%-47%) than the control. The mRNA abundance of vitamin D metabolism genes (CYP2R1, CYP24A1, VDR) and lipid metabolism genes (FASN, SREBP1, CPT1) was upregulated in the liver by Diets 2-5 compared with the control at wk 3, whereas these genes were downregulated in breast, thigh and adipose tissue by Diets 2-5 compared with the control. Expression of VDR, SREBP1 and CPT1 in the liver, thigh, and adipose tissue was upregulated by Diets 2-5 compared with the control diet at wk 6. In conclusion, feeding chicks with supplemental omega 3 fatty acids and calcidiol improved growth performance, health status, and tissue accumulation of DHA of broiler chickens (Supported by DOE MAGIC grant DEEE0007091, USDA grant 2019-69012-29905, and Cornell University Hatch grants NYC-127302).

Key Words: Broiler chicks, Calcidiol, DHA, Growth performance, Omega 3 fatty acids.

 

Presented at 2021 PSA Annual Meeting.

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Authors:
Dr. Sahil Kalia, Ph.D.
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