Effect of different levels of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids on performance and meat quality of broiler chicken

This study examined the effects of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids sources on meat quality (breast muscle fatty acid profile) and performance of broiler chickens. The experiment was carried out based on a completely randomized design with 225 chickens including three treatments and three replications for each treatment. The treatments were 1- diet with no oil 2- diet with soybean oil and 3- diet with sheep fat-tail oil. There were no significant differences among the treatment in terms of feed intake and feed conversion ratio for the whole period of the experiment. During weeks 3-5 there were significant (P<0.05) differences among the treatments for the body weight. Heart and liver weight were significantly (P<0.05) different among the treatment such that the broilers fed with treatment three had greater weight of heart and liver. Feeding soybean oil and sheep fat-tail oil could significantly (P<0.05) affect profile of fatty acids (myristic acid, oleic acid, vaccenic acid and alphalinoleic acid) found within muscle. Myristic and vaccenic acids content of breast muscle increased in the broilers fed with treatment three while they decreased as the treatment two was applied. It could be therefore concluded that using saturated and unsaturated sources may influence fatty acids profile of breast muscle in broilers.