http:// www.jstage.jst.go.jp / browse / jpsa
doi:10.2141/ jpsa.0120112
Copyright Ⓒ 2013, Japan Poultry Science Association.
Combination of Linseed and Palm Oils is a Better Alternative than Single
Oil for Broilers Exposed to High Environmental Temperature
Jianjun Wang, Qiufeng Zhu, Hussain Ahmad, Xuhui Zhang and Tian Wang
College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University,
Nanjing, 210095, P.R. China
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of combination of linseed oil (rich in omega 3 polyunsaturated
fatty acid, ω3 PUFA) and palm oil (rich in saturated fatty acid, SFAs) on the growth performance, meat quality, and
fatty acid composition of birds under high environmental temperature. Experiment was conducted in summer
(average high temperature 31℃). Birds in the positive temperature control group (PTC) and negative temperature
control group (NTC) were fed with maize-soybean meal-maize gluten basal diet, the other 4 experimental groups were
fed with basal diets containing linseed oil (LO), palm oil (PO), or their combination at the ratio of 3:2 (linseed
oil/palm oil, w/w, group LPI) or 2:3 (group LPII), respectively. Results showed that the NTC deleteriously affect the
growth performance, carcass quality and fatty acid composition of chickens than PTC group. The growth performance of birds under high environmental temperature was improved by oil supplementation. Furthermore, the
combination of both oils achieved a better growth performance than the single oil during 22 to 42 d. Compared with
NTC group, the yields of breast, leg and carcass were significantly improved in group LPI. Fatty acid composition of
meat was significantly modified by dietary oil, and PUFA, especially ω3 PUFA in meat was increased by linseed oil
(P＜0.05). However, the MUFA and SFA contents in meat were not positively correlated with their contents in diet.
Birds fed with combined oil at the ratio of 2:3 (w/w) achieved better economic results. It was concluded that the
combination of linseed and palm oils at 2:3 (w/w) in chicken diets had more positive effect on growth performance,
enhanced the n-3 PUFA content in meat, and economically better than single dietary oil.
Key words: broiler, fatty acid composition, high environmental temperature, linseed oil, palm oil
J. Poult. Sci., 50: 332-339, 2013
Introduction
Ambient temperature is an important factor in poultry
production. The harmful effects of high ambient temperatures on the performance, carcass characteristics, and meat
quality of broilers have been well documented (Temim et al.,
2000; Lu et al., 2007; Mujahid et al., 2007; Ghazalah et al.,
2008; Dai et al., 2009). When chicks were exposed to
temperatures exceeding 30℃ from 4 weeks of age up to
marketing, the resulting feed intake, growth rate, and feed
utilization were reduced significantly (Cooper and Washburn
1998; Yalcin et al., 2001; Olanrewaju et al., 2010). Moreover, carcass yield and meat quality were deteriotated due to
high temperature (Mendes et al., 1997; Lu et al., 2007).
Several nutritional strategies have been proposed to alleviate
the adverse effects of high ambient temperatures (Ahmad et
Received: July 27, 2012, Accepted: February 11, 2013
Released Online Advance Publication: March 25, 2013
Correspondence: Prof. T. Wang, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, P.R. China.
(E-mail: [email protected])
al., 2009; Dai et al., 2009; Mujahid 2011). At present, it has
been widely accepted that dietary metabolic energy increased
by adding oil or fat in the poultry diets improved the growth
performance of chicks exposed to high environmental temperature (Al-Batshan 1999; Gous and Morris 2005). Researchers have been concerned over the recent years to find
out new strategies in poultry nutrition that can improve the
growth performance and meat quality of broiler chickens.
Single poultry fat (Ghazalah et al., 2008), olive oil (Mujahid
et al., 2009) , and other oils (An et al., 2001; Zulkifli et al.,
2007) have been used to resist the side effects of high environmental temperature.
In poultry production, addition of fat from different
sources is not only important for chicken production but also
very critical for human health. There is, indeed, a potential
possibility of designing the profile of fatty acid in the carcass
of poultry by a suitable composition of poultry diet. Palm oil
is rich in saturated fatty acid (SFAs), which resist against
high environmental temperature, but it also led to the meat of
an undesirable composition of fatty acid. Linseed oil is rich
in poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), especially ω3 PUFA,
Wang et al.: Dietary Oil for Heat Stress
which produced the meat of more favorable balanced fatty
acid (Ferrer et al., 2001). However, previous study indicated
that the mechanism by which PUFA aggravating heat stress
by inducing more heat increment (Brue and Latshaw 1985)
or higher body temperature (Zulkifli et al., 2007) in
chickens. Limited information is reported on the influence
of the blended oil of linseed oil and palm oil on the performance and meat quality of chicks under high environmental temperature. The objectives of this present study were to
achieve not only better growth performance but also produce
chicken meat with favorable fatty acid under high environmental temperature. Therefore, the present study was
conducted to investigate the effects of dietary linseed oil and
palm oil, either alone or in their combination on the performance, carcass quality, and fatty acid composition in
broilers under high environmental temperature.
Materials and Methods
Animal Treatments and Diets
This work was conducted at the college of Animal Science
and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University. The birds
were reared during the summer season (July and August).
The ambient temperature ranged between 28℃ and 35℃.
The average ambient temperature was 31℃ while the average relative humidity was 80% during the experiment. The
minimum and maximum temperatures were recorded daily at
morning and noon (6 AM and 12 AM). A total of 720 oneday-old commercial Arbor Acres (AA) broilers obtained
from a local commercial hatchery (Hewei, Anhui, China)
were randomly allocated to 6 treatment groups consisting of
6 replicates of 20 unsexed birds. All birds were placed in
Table 1.
wire cages in a 3-level battery and housed in an environmentally controlled room maintained at 35℃ during the first
3 days and at 32℃ during the subsequent 4 days, and then
120 birds in positive temperature control group (PTC) were
still raised on thermonertral temperature with environmental
control system (reduce temperature by 2℃ every week until
26℃, and then keep the temperature at 26℃). The other 600
birds were exposed to the natural environment during the
whole period of experiment. The birds in the negative temperature control group (NTC) and PTC group were given the
corn-soybean meal-maize gluten basal diet for the respective
growth stage. The other 4 experimental groups were given
experimental diets based on the basal diets, containing an
additional of linseed oil (LO group), palm oil (PO group), or
their combination with the ratio of 3:2 (linseed oil/palm oil,
w/w) (LPI group) or 2:3 (LPII group). The inclusion levels
of oil in the experimental diets were 4% (w/w) in starter diet
(1 to 21 d) and 5% (w/w) in finisher diet (22 to 42 d).
All the diets were formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of the broiler (Commercial recommendation).
The birds were fed a starter diet until 21 d of age followed by
a finisher diet from 22 to 42 d. Each diet was isocaloric and
isonitrogenous (regardless the ether extracts and fatty acid
composition). Ingredients and nutritional contents of diets
were showed in Table 1, and the fatty acid profiles of starter
and finisher diets were summarized in Table 2. The light
regimen was 24 h light. Birds were allowed to consume both
feed and water ad libitum. Fresh diets were prepared once a
week and were stored in sealed bags at room temperature
(24℃). All the procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Nanjing Agri-
Feed composition and nutrient contents of broiler diets
Start diets
Start diets
Finisher diets
Ingredient1
Basal
diets6
Test
diets6
Basal
diets
Maize
Soybean meal
MGM2
L-Lysine
DL-Methionine
Stone power
CaHPO4
Sodium chloride
Premix3
DDGS4
Oil5
62 . 13
15 . 03
17 . 84
0 . 43
0.1
1 . 36
1 . 81
0.3
1
0
0
52 . 23
37 . 14
2
0
0 . 19
1 . 26
1 . 88
0.3
1
0
4
66 . 47
10 . 74
11 . 64
0 . 45
0 . 03
1 . 69
0 . 95
0.3
1
6 . 72
0
1
333
Finisher diets
Test
diets
Nutrients7
Basal
diets
Test
diets
Basal
diets
Test
diets
49 . 75
18 . 99
2
0 . 26
0 . 04
1 . 89
0 . 55
0.3
1
20 . 22
5
ME
CP
EE
CF
Ca
P
Lys
Met
Arg
Tyr
Met＋Cys
3002
22 . 39
3 . 01
3 . 81
0 . 98
0 . 43
1 . 07
0 . 54
1 . 12
0 . 54
0 . 88
3002
22 . 37
6 . 98
3 . 75
1 . 00
0 . 44
1 . 08
0 . 54
1 . 13
0 . 55
0 . 89
3017
19 . 95
3 . 05
3 . 86
0 . 97
0 . 40
0 . 93
0 . 34
0 . 95
0 . 32
0 . 72
3017
19 . 94
7 . 93
3 . 90
0 . 99
0 . 39
0 . 92
0 . 34
0 . 96
0 . 31
0 . 71
The composition of nutrients in Table 1 was base on determined, and expressed as weight percentage.
MGM, Maize gluten meal.
3
Provided for kg feed: iron, 60 mg; copper, 7.5 mg; zinc, 65 mg; manganese, 110 mg; iodine, 1.1 mg; selenium, 0.4 mg;
Bacitracin Zinc, 30 mg; Vitamin A, 4500 IU; Vitamin D3, 1000 IU; Vitamin E, 20 mg; Vitamin K, 1.3 mg; Vitamin B1,
2.2 mg; Vitamin B2, 10 mg; Vitamin B3, 10 mg; choline chloride, 400 mg; Vitamin B5, 50 mg; Vitamin B6, 4 mg; Biotin,
0.04 mg; Vitamin B11, 1 mg; Vitamin B12, 1.013 mg.
4
DDGS, Dried distillers grains with solubles.
5
Vitamin E was added by 0.03% in oil to prevent oxidation.
6
Basal diets for PTC and NTC groups, Test diets for LO, PO and combined oil groups.
7
ME expressed as kcal/kg, other nutrient contents expressed as weight percentage in the feed.
2
Journal of Poultry Science, 50 (4)
334
Table 2.
Fatty acid profile of the starter and finisher diets with different oil types
Starter diets2
Fatty acid
Finisher diet2
profile1, %
Cont.
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
Cont.
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
C12:0
C14:0
C16:0
C16:1 ω7
C18:0
C18:1 ω9
C18:2 ω6
C18:3 ω3
C20:0
C20:4 ω6
C22:5 ω3
C22:6 ω3
SFA3
MUFA3
PUFA3
P:S3
ω6:ω33
0 . 29
0 . 65
13 . 66
0 . 11
2 . 50
27 . 88
52 . 86
1 . 48
0 . 57
0 . 15
ND4
ND
17 . 67
27 . 99
54 . 34
3 . 08
35 . 72
ND
0 . 15
9 . 63
0 . 23
3 . 47
36 . 93
35 . 48
13 . 39
0 . 73
0 . 12
ND
ND
13 . 98
37 . 15
48 . 87
3 . 50
2 . 65
1 . 16
0 . 96
28 . 10
0 . 13
4 . 25
33 . 84
28 . 65
2 . 21
0 . 70
0 . 14
ND
ND
35 . 16
33 . 97
30 . 86
0 . 88
12 . 99
0 . 54
0 . 48
17 . 99
0 . 19
3 . 66
36 . 29
31 . 37
8 . 79
0 . 69
0 . 13
ND
ND
23 . 36
36 . 48
40 . 16
1 . 72
3 . 57
0 . 80
0 . 67
21 . 42
0 . 12
4 . 05
35 . 24
30 . 67
6 . 64
0 . 39
0 . 12
ND
ND
27 . 32
35 . 37
37 . 31
1 . 37
4 . 62
0 . 16
0 . 18
14 . 79
0 . 15
2 . 37
30 . 06
49 . 12
2 . 39
0 . 57
0 . 16
ND
ND
18 . 07
30 . 21
51 . 72
2 . 86
20 . 61
0 . 04
1 . 03
10 . 63
0 . 34
1 . 23
37 . 24
34 . 36
14 . 45
0 . 53
0 . 14
ND
ND
13 . 47
37 . 58
48 . 96
3 . 63
2 . 39
1 . 02
0 . 86
27 . 88
0 . 34
1 . 30
38 . 06
27 . 87
2 . 05
0 . 50
0 . 11
ND
ND
31 . 56
38 . 40
30 . 03
0 . 95
13 . 64
0 . 46
0 . 97
19 . 28
0 . 36
1 . 30
36 . 46
30 . 90
9 . 61
0 . 53
0 . 13
ND
ND
22 . 54
36 . 81
40 . 64
1 . 80
3 . 23
0 . 60
0 . 96
20 . 60
0 . 36
1 . 34
38 . 40
29 . 69
7 . 42
0 . 50
0 . 12
ND
ND
24 . 00
38 . 76
37 . 24
1 . 55
4 . 02
1
All values are means as weight percentages of total fatty acid methyl esters.
Cont., without additional oil for PTC and NTC groups; LO, added with linseed oil; PO, added with palm oil; BOI, linseed
oil/palm oil (w/w) at the ratio 3/2; BOII, linseed oil/palm oil (w/w) at the ratio 2/3.
3
SFA, saturated fatty acid; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid; P:S, PUFA: SFA; ω6:
ω3, ω6 PUFA /ω3 PUFA.
4
ND, Not detectable.
2
cultural University, China.
Sample Collection and Procedures
Body weights (BW) were recorded for each replicate at 1,
21 and 42 days of age. Feed intake was measured over these
feeding periods. At 42 d, 2 birds per replicate were randomly selected and weighed, then killed by exsanguinations
and necropsies immediately. After decapitation, the carcasses were opened, separated, and weighed. Samples of
muscle were then rapidly excised and stored at −20℃ until
for further analysis.
Carcass Quality Assay
After the birds were manually eviscerated, the eviscerated
carcass, abdominal fat, breast meat (including pectoralis
major and pectoralis minor), and leg meat (including thigh
and drumstick) were measured. The weight percentages of
eviscerated carcass, breast meat, leg meat, and abdominal fat
were calculated as a percentage of live BW after fasting at
the end of finisher period.
Fatty Acid Profiles
Total lipid was extracted from 3 g feed or homogenized
breast muscle (left side) with chloroform -methanol (2:1, v/v)
according to method of Folch (1957). Extracted lipids were
transmethylated with boron trifluoride and methanolic KOH
(Morrison and Smith 1964). The methylic esters of fatty acid
were analyzed by gas chromatography (Shimadzu GC-14B)
over a CP-Sil88-fames column (50 m×0.25 mm×0.2 um;
Varian, Palo Alto, CA, USA) with a Hewlett-Packard. Hydrogen was used as carrier gas at a constant flow rate of 1/50.
The oven temperature was programmed as follows: 160℃,
held for 4 min; from 160℃ to 220℃ at a rate of 3℃/min.
The injector port and detector temperature were 280℃.
Samples were injected with an auto-sampler. Output signals
were identified and quantified from the retention times and
peak areas of known calibration standards.
Economic Evaluation
Feed cost and total costs per replicate were calculated.
Feed cost was calculated as average feed expenditure (USA
dollar, USD) divided by average body weight gain (kg) for
each bird during the period of 1-21 d, 22-42 d and 1-42 d.
Total costs were calculated as the total expenditure (USD) of
individual bird divided by average body weight gain (kg) at
the end of experiment. The total expenditure of individual
bird included the money used for purchasing feed, medicine,
day old chicken, labor, and the depreciation of fixed asset
during the experiment.
Data Analysis
Data for performance and fatty acid composition in breast
were analyzed by One-Way ANOVA (SPSS, 16.0). The
percentages of carcass, breast, leg, and abdominal fat were
transformed by the arcsine square root before analysis. Data
of carcass traits were determined by General Linear Model
(GLM, SPSS 16.0), and the treatments and sex were set as
fixed factors. Differences between treatments means were
tested by Tukey’s Multiple Range Test. Significance was
evaluated at the level of P≤0.05.
Results
Growth Performance
As shown in Table 3, there was no significant difference of
initial body weight (BW) at 1 d age between treatments, and
Wang et al.: Dietary Oil for Heat Stress
Table 3.
perature
335
Effect of dietary oil types on growth performance of broilers exposed to high environmental tem-
Items
BW2, g/bird/period
1d
21 d
42 d
FI2, g/bird/period
1 to 21 d
22 to 42 d
1 to 42 d
FCR2, g:g
1 to 21 d
22 to 42 d
1 to 42 d
Treatments1
PTC
NTC
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
SEM
P
40 . 0
504 . 1c
1748 . 0d
40 . 3
400 . 5a
1234 . 9a
40 . 7
439 . 0ab
1424 . 6b
40 . 4
474 . 0bc
1553 . 4c
39 . 9
473 . 3bc
1685 . 7d
40 . 1
483 . 4bc
1710 . 9d
0 . 57
17 . 33
41 . 14
0 . 763
0 . 001
0 . 001
757 . 4c
2394 . 4d
3175 . 2d
603 . 4a
1716 . 8a
2319 . 8a
641 . 9ab
1975 . 1b
2617 . 3b
683 . 9abc
2123 . 8bc
2807 . 7bc
671 . 6ab
2256 . 8cd
2928 . 8c
688 . 4bc
2273 . 3cd
2966 . 1cd
27 . 39
55 . 17
72 . 91
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
1 . 55a
1 . 85a
1 . 77a
0 . 03
0 . 02
0 . 02
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
1 . 63ab
1 . 92bc
1 . 86b
1 . 68b
2 . 06e
1 . 94c
1 . 61ab
2 . 00de
1 . 89bc
1 . 58a
1 . 97cd
1 . 86b
1 . 55a
1 . 86ab
1 . 78a
a-d
Means within the same row that do not share a common superscript are significantly different (P＜0.05). n＝6.
PTC, under thermonertral environmental temperature, NTC, LO, PO, TC, LPI and LPII, exposed to high environmental temperature.
PTC and NTC, without additional oil; LO, linseed oil; PO, palm oil; LPI, linseed oil and palm oil at the ratio 3/2 (w/w); LPII, linseed
oil and palm oil at the ratio 2/3 (w/w).
2
BW, body weight; FI, feed intake; FCR, feed conversion ratio.
1
the mean BW at 1 day was 40.2 g. Feed intake (FI), BW and
feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly (P＜0.05)
affected by treatments. FI, BW in every period and FCR in
1-41 d and 22-42 d were significantly lowered in NTC than
PTC group. Compared with NTC group, dietary oil alleviated the side effect of high environmental temperature on
birds’ performance. FI in high environmental temperature
was significantly increased in group LPII during 1 to 21d and
in all the 4 oil added groups during 22 to 42 d and 1 to 42 d
than NTC group. Among the oil added groups, there was a
significant increase of FI in LPII in 1-21 d and in LPI and
LPII groups in 1-42 d and 22-42 d than LO group. Compared with NTC group, BW was significantly increased in
PO, LPI and LPII groups in 1-21 d and in all oil added
groups in 22-42 d and 1-42 d. Among the oil added groups,
BW was significantly increased by adding oil in combination
than single oil during 22-42 d and 1-42 d. FCR was significantly improved in PO, LPI and LPII groups in every period
than NTC group. Among the oil added groups, combined oil
significantly improved FCR than single oil during 22-42 d
and 1-42 d. Compared the effect of 2 combined oil groups
on growth performance, no significantly difference was observed in chickens.
Carcass Quality
Carcass traits of chicken were summarized in Table 4.
Live BW and the percentages of carcass, leg and breast were
significantly affected by treatments. The effect of different
oils alone or in combination on carcass traits was significantly varied with sex of chicks, male broiler chickens tended
to achieve better carcass traits than female chickens. Our
data showed that the percentages of breast, leg, abdominal
fat, and carcass were decreased in NTC group than PTC
group. Dietary oils improved carcass traits of birds under
high temperature, and some carcass traits were significantly
increased by dietary oil, e.g. BW in PO and LPI groups,
carcass percentage in LPI and LPII groups, breast percentage
in all oil added groups, leg percentage in group LPI. While
the effect of different oils alone or in combination in
chickens varied in both sex significantly affected BW and the
percentage of carcass, and male birds showed a high BW and
carcass percentage. The interaction between sex and treatments did not significantly affect carcass traits. Among the
oil added groups, combined oil exerted a significant increase
of BW in LPI, carcass percentage in the two combined oil
groups, leg percentage in LPI group than LO group. Dietary
oil did not significantly affect abdominal fat percentage, but
linseed oil added groups had a tendency to decrease abdominal fat deposit than PO group.
Fatty Acid Profiles of Meat
Data of breast fatty acid composition were summarized in
Table 5. Except of C12:0, C14:0 and C20:0, all other fatty
acid contents were significantly affected by treatments.
Compared the fatty acid composition between NTC and PTC
groups, which showed that high environmental temperature
significantly increase the contents of C18:0, C18:1, while
decreased the contents of C18:2, C20:4; in other words NTC
group resulted with significant increase of SFA and MUFA
contents, and an decrease of PUFA contents than PTC group.
Compared with NTC and PO group, groups (LO, LPI, and
LPII) supplemented with linseed oil significantly decreased
the contents of SFA and MUFA, and the ratio of ω6:ω3,
while increased PUFA contents, and the ratio of P:S. However, the contents of MUFA and SFA in the breast were not
positively correlated to their content in diet. The desired ω3
PUFA (C18:3 ω3) in breast was increased according the
increasing supplementation of linseed oil. In brief, the
quality of fatty acid composition was according this order:
LO＞LPI＞ LPII ＞PO＞PTC＞NTC.
Journal of Poultry Science, 50 (4)
336
Effect of dietary oil types on carcass traits of broilers exposed to
high environmental temperature
Table 4.
Treatments1
BW2, g
Carcass3, %
Breast3, %
Leg3, %
AF2, %
PTC
NTC
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
SEM
P (Treatments)
Male
Female
SEM
P (Sex)
P (Sex*Treatments)
1678ab
1435a
1600ab
1768b
1789b
1701ab
107
0 . 033
1731
1593
62
0 . 036
NS4
87 . 40ab
84 . 14a
86 . 39ab
88 . 54ab
89 . 31b
89 . 06b
1 . 45
0 . 013
88 . 81
86 . 13
0 . 84
0 . 004
NS4
16 . 79c
12 . 46a
14 . 53b
15 . 61bc
15 . 04b
15 . 64bc
0 . 55
0 . 001
15 . 32
14 . 7
0 . 32
NS4
NS4
16 . 26c
13 . 48a
14 . 05ab
14 . 37ab
15 . 48bc
14 . 53ab
0 . 53
0 . 001
15 . 09
14 . 3
0 . 31
NS4
NS4
2 . 80b
2 . 12a
2 . 21a
2 . 33a
2 . 26a
2 . 26a
0 . 07
0 . 001
2 . 34
2 . 32
0 . 04
NS4
NS4
a-c
Means within the same line that do not share a common superscript are significantly different (P＜0.05). n＝6.
1
PTC, under thermonertral environmental temperature; NTC, LO, PO, TC, LPI and LPII,
exposed to high environmental temperature. PTC and NTC, without additional oil; LO,
linseed oil; PO, palm oil; LPI, linseed oil and palm oil at the ratio 3/2 (w/w); LPII, linseed oil
and palm oil at the ratio 2/3 (w/w).
2
BW, live body weight; AF, abdominal fat.
3
Calculated as a percentage of live BW.
4
NS, not significant.
Effect of dietary oil types on fatty acid profiles of chicken breast under high environmental temperature
Table 5.
Treatments1
Fatty acid
profile2, %
PTC
NTC
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
C12:0
C14:0
C16:0
C16:1 ω7
C18:0
C18:1 ω9
C18:2 ω6
C18:3 ω3
C20:0
C20:4 ω6
C22:5 ω3
C22:6 ω3
SFA3
MUFA3
PUFA3
P:S3
ω6:ω33
0 . 04
0 . 47
24 . 53d
4 . 32d
7 . 54b
39 . 07c
20 . 90b
0 . 85a
0.1
2 . 01b
ND4
ND4
32 . 69d
43 . 39c
23 . 82b
0 . 73b
27 . 07d
0 . 04
0 . 47
24 . 70d
4 . 12d
7 . 94c
40 . 40d
19 . 68a
0 . 83a
0 . 09
1 . 73a
ND4
ND4
33 . 24e
44 . 52d
22 . 24a
0 . 70a
25 . 80d
0 . 03
0 . 46
19 . 27a
2 . 81a
7 . 87c
37 . 69b
23 . 39d
6 . 68d
0 . 09
1 . 71a
ND4
ND4
27 . 72a
40 . 50b
31 . 78d
1 . 15e
3 . 76a
0 . 04
0 . 46
25 . 52e
3 . 72c
7 . 32a
40 . 07d
19 . 21a
0 . 98a
0.1
2 . 55c
ND4
ND4
33 . 44e
43 . 80c
22 . 75a
0 . 68a
22 . 14c
0 . 04
0 . 48
21 . 54b
3 . 03b
7 . 58b
37 . 84b
22 . 55c
4 . 78c
0 . 11
2 . 07b
ND4
ND4
29 . 75b
40 . 86b
29 . 40c
0 . 99d
5 . 16b
0 . 04
0 . 47
23 . 65c
2 . 82ab
7 . 62b
36 . 10a
22 . 85cd
3 . 92b
0.1
2 . 38c
ND4
ND4
31 . 88c
38 . 92a
29 . 15c
0 . 91c
6 . 44b
a-e
SEM
P
0 . 00
0 . 01
0 . 15
0 . 07
0 . 07
0 . 23
0 . 20
0 . 07
0 . 01
0 . 01
NS5
NS5
0 . 12
0 . 21
0 . 25
0 . 01
0 . 46
NS
NS
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
NS
0 . 001
NS5
NS5
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
Means within the same row that do not share a common superscript are significantly different (P＜0.05).
n＝6.
1
PTC, under thermonertral environmental temperature, NTC, LO, PO, TC, LPI and LPII, exposed to high
environmental temperature. PTC and NTC, without additional oil; LO, linseed oil; PO, palm oil; LPI, linseed
oil and palm oil at the ratio 3/2 (w/w); LPII, linseed oil and palm oil at the ratio 2/3 (w/w).
2
All values are means as weight percentages of total fatty acid methyl esters.
3
SFA, saturated fatty acid; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid; PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid; P: S,
PUFA: SFA; ω6:ω3, ω6 PUFA /ω3 PUFA.
4
ND, not detectable.
5
NS, not significant.
Wang et al.: Dietary Oil for Heat Stress
Table 6.
perature
Effect of dietary fat types on cost of broilers exposed to high environmental tem-
Cost, USD/kg BW
Feed cost
1 to 21
22 to 42
1 to 42
Total cost2
337
d
d
d
(1 to 42d)
Treatments1
PTC
NTC
LO
PO
LPI
LPII
0 . 82a
0 . 88a
0 . 87a
1 . 26a
0 . 84a
0 . 94b
0 . 91b
1 . 48c
1 . 00d
1 . 16d
1 . 12e
1 . 61d
0 . 86ab
0 . 95b
0 . 93bc
1 . 38b
0 . 91c
1 . 00c
0 . 98d
1 . 39b
0 . 89bc
0 . 97bc
0 . 95c
1 . 36b
SEM
P
0 . 02
0 . 01
0 . 01
0 . 02
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
0 . 001
a-e
Means within the same row that do not share a common superscript are significantly different (P＜0.05). n＝6.
PTC, under thermonertral environmental temperature, NTC, LO, PO, TC, LPI and LPII, exposed to high
environmental temperature. PTC and NTC, without additional oil; LO, linseed oil; PO, palm oil; LPI, linseed oil
and palm oil at the ratio 3/2 (w/w); LPII, linseed oil and palm oil at the ratio 2/3 (w/w).
2
Total cost, including the costs of feed, medicine, baby chicken, labor, and depreciation of fixed asset.
1
Economic Evaluation
Feed cost and total cost of per kg body weight gain was
shown in Table 6. Heat stress significantly (P＜0.05) increased the feed cost and total cost. However, the oil supplementation did not decrease the feed cost in high temperature than NTC group, while we took the total cost into
consideration, the situation was different, then palm oil and
combined oil significantly decreased the total cost than NTC
group, and the combined oil (LO/PO, 2/3) achieved the best
economic results.
Discussion
Previous studies reported that high environmental temperature suppressed birds performance (Temim et al., 2000; Lu
et al., 2007; Ghazalah et al., 2008; Dai et al., 2009). The
results of our present study were similar with the previous
studies that high environmental temperature reduced the
growth performance of broiler chickens. Fat and oil have
been widely used in poultry diets to increase dietary energy
concentration and promote performance of birds exposed
to high environmental temperature (Dale and Fuller 1980;
Mujahid et al., 2009). Several experiments indicated that
single fat or oil, such as poultry fat (Ghazalah et al., 2008),
olive oil (Mujahid et al., 2009), coconut oil and canola oil
(Ben-Hamo et al., 2011) improved the performance of
broiler chicks under high environmental temperature. The
results of our present study are in agreement with the results
of previous studies that diets supplemented with linseed oil,
palm oil and blended oil improved growth performance of
broiler chicks exposed to high environmental temperature.
This might be the result of lower heat increment induced by
dietary oil, and then alleviated the side effect of high environmental temperature. Chen and Chiang (2005) and Buckingham (1985) reported that dietary P/S (polyunsaturated/
saturated) ratio did not affect heat increment in birds and rats
under high environmental temperature, while Ben-Hamo et
al. (2011) suggested that fatty acid composition in muscle
and liver was associated with thermoregulation. In the
current experiment, the effect of linseed oil on performance
was not as good as those with palm oil or combined oil,
which maybe a result of heat increment induced by the high
content PUFA in the linseed oil. Qi et al. (2010) reported
that substituted ω3 for ω6 C18 fatty acid in the diets of
chickens tended to improve feed conversion and survival,
though there was no effects on growth performance. In the
current experiment, the combined oils obtained better performance than single oil, and the possible reason is that both
palm and linseed oils have their disadvantages. Dietary oil
including linseed oil could alleviate the side effects of heat
stress on birds but the influence was not as good as other oils
that are rich in SFA. The possible reason of this low efficiency of linseed oil is its high heat increment as compared
to other oils that are enriched in SFA (Ben-Hamo et al.,
2011), while palm oil is insufficient in essential fatty acid
(Ramos et al., 2009). The combined oil reduced their disadvantages and obtained better performance. The better
performance was achieved by combined oil in 22-42 d, but
not in 1-21 d. The difference of performance between starter
and finisher periods may be due to the difference in deleterious effect of high environmental temperature in different
growth period. In the starter period, the birds need higher
temperature than finisher period, and the environmental
temperature keep similar in the two periods, so the side effect
of high temperature in starter period was not serious as
finisher period, and then the improvement of performance
with combined oil was not as good as finisher period. The
bird’s physical function was not well developed in the starter
period, so the combined oil did not show better performance
in starter period. Briefly, dietary oil alleviated the side effect
of high environmental temperature on performance. However, combined oil showed better performance than single oil,
while palm oil showed better performance than linseed oil.
As a consequence of chronic heat exposure generally
involved a reduction of meat quality, such as more abdominal
fat deposited, less carcass yield obtained (Baziz et al., 1996;
Geraert et al., 1996; Mendes et al., 1997; Lu et al., 2007).
Same results showed in the current experiment. Carcass
traits in NTC were deteriorated than PTC group, except abdominal fat was decreased by NTC than PTC. Because of
the less heat increment induced by dietary oil, then it could
338
Journal of Poultry Science, 50 (4)
improve birds’ carcass quality under high environmental
temperature, which also showed in the current experiment.
Dietary oil resource played an important role in regulating fat
deposition due to the composition of fatty acid. For example, SFAs are easier to be deposited in the body, and
PUFAs are easier to be oxidized for energy (Baião and Lara
2005). The current experiment showed that abdominal fat of
birds under high environmental temperature was not significantly affected by dietary oil sources. However, the oil supplementation increased abdominal deposit than NTC group,
similar results showed in Esmail’s (1987) report, he found
that there was a tendency for dietary energy derived from fat
to be deposited more fat in the body. Among the oil added
groups, linseed oil tended to decrease abdominal fat deposit
more than palm oil did, which was in accordance with
previous report (Ferrini et al., 2008) indicating that it is
because of the higher PUFA in linseed oil than palm oil. Qi
et al. (2010) added linseed oil to the diets of broiler chickens,
and found no effects on most slaughter traits, which also
showed in the current experiment.
In the current experiment, NTC produced lower P:S meat
than PTC group, which means that birds under high temperature environmental tended to deposit more SFA and
MUFA rather than PUFA. In other words, high environmental temperature aggravated the unbalance of fatty composition in breast. Similar results were reported by Sonaiya
(1988), birds reared in high temperature (30℃) had a significantly lower proportion of P:S in their abdominal fat
between 34 and 54 d than birds in low temperature (17℃).
Previous studies reported that the fatty acid composition of
meat was a mirror of dietary fatty acid composition in monogastric animal (Kouba and Mourot 2011). Ferrer et al.
(2001) and Qi et al. (2010) increased the dietary ω3 PUFA
content due to dietary supplementation of fish oil or linseed
oil, which increased the deposition of desirable ω3 PUFA in
the edible tissue, thereby, achieving nutritionally enriched
meat. Similar result was achieved in the present experiment,
ω3 PUFA enriched chicken meat was produced in broiler
chickens supplemented with linseed oil, and the ω3 PUFA
content was positively related to its content in diet. The
contents of PUFA, especially ω3 PUFA were increased by
linseed oil. However, SFA and MUFA contents in breast
were not related to their contents in diet. The variations of
MUFA and SFA contents in breast were affected by the exact
quantity of PUFA rather than by ratio of PUFA in total fatty
acid. The results suggested that the contents of PUFA in diet
regulate all the fatty acid deposit in muscle. The possible
reason is that PUFA is more active in biologic functions than
MUFA and SFA, since more unsaturated bonds exist in
PUFA.
Our data showed that combined oil was better for the
performance, carcass quality and fatty acid profile of birds
under high temperature environment. However, economic
factor must be taken into consideration in practical use of
combined oil. Indeed linseed oil is more expensive than
palm oil. When single linseed oil was used, we couldn’t
achieve good profit even if better fatty acid profile was
obtained. However, taking the total cost of per kg weight
gain into consideration, the combined oil (linseed oil/palm
oil, 2/3, w/w) obtained better profit than linseed and palm oil,
because the combined oil (linseed oil/palm oil, 2/3, w/w)
obtained more body weight than single oil. And then, the
fixed costs (costs of medicine, baby chicken, labor, and
depreciation of on fixed asset) of per kg body weight were
decreased in combined oil added group. In addition, n-3
PUFA enhanced chicken meat was produced with combined
oil instead of palm oil, and the meat rich in n-3 PUFA could
sell at a better price (Mapiye et al., 2012), so the combined
oil at the ratio of 2 to 3 would obtain better profit than linseed
or palm oil.
In conclusion, the present study showed that, performance
of birds was deteriorated under high environmental temperature, which could be improved by dietary oil, and the combined oil was better than single oil. Linseed oil, either in its
single form or in combination with palm oil, improved
carcass quality and fatty acid composition, while the effect of
linseed oil on performance of birds under high environmental
temperature was not as good as palm oil and combined oil.
So combined oil can be an effective way to produce high
quality meat and obtain better performance of chicks under
high environmental temperature. When considering the
economic factor, the combined oil at the ratio of 2:3 (linseed
oil/ palm oil, w/w) achieved better profit than other groups.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by a grant from National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30972116) and a
project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.
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