Effects of mixed emulsifiers on blood metabolites, ileal morphology, and meat quality of broiler chickens

Using tallow as the fat source, an experiment was conducted to determine whether mixed exogenous emulsifiers (sodium stearoyl lactylate, glycerol monostearate, and glycerol distearate) supplementation in reduced-energy diets could affect blood metabolites, ileal morphology, and meat quality of broiler chickens for 35 days. 256 Ross 308 one-day-old broilers (42.28 ± 0.16 g) were randomly allocated in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement to 32 pens with eight chicks per cage for 35 days. Birds were fed one of four dietary treatments as follows: (1) positive control (PCN; energy sufficient diet); (2) negative control (NCN; energy-deficient diet, –100 ME kcal/kg); (3) PCL (PCN plus 0.05% emulsifier) and (4) NCL (NCN plus 0.05% emulsifier). Ileal and blood samples were collected on day 21 and 35. The total cholesterol, lipase, and triglyceride contents were measured for the blood whereas the villus heights, villus widths, crypt depths, and absorptive villus surface area were measured for the ileum. The muscle pH, colour, water holding capacity (WHC), and cooking loss were analysed for the breast muscle samples that were collected at day 35. Higher (p < 0.05) blood lipase levels were noticed with emulsifiers in both the NCL and PCL diets. Regarding ileal morphology and muscle quality, longer (p < 0.05) villus heights and higher (p < 0.05) breast muscle yellowness were observed with emulsifiers in the NCL and PCL diets. Our results emphasize that 0.05% emulsifier use in diets could trigger changes that are beneficial for gut health and fat utilization.

Keywords: emulsifiers, lipase, villus heights.

Presented at the 19th AAAP (Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production) Animal Science Congress, Jeju, Korea, 2022.