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Improving the Lipid Nutritive Value of Poultry Meat Through the Incorporation of a Dehydrated Leguminous-Based Forage in the Diet for Broiler Chicks

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 87; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3382/ps.2007-00446

1525-3171

P.I.P. Ponte, José A. M. Prates, J.P. Crespo, D.G. Crespo, J.L. Mourão, Susana P. Alves, R.J.B. Bessa, M.A. Chaveiro-Soares, L.M.A. Ferreira, C.M.G.A. Fontes,

Aquaculture Nutrition and Growth

Dehydrated forages are assumed to be good sources of α-linolenic acid (ALA) and lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds (vitamin E homologs and β-carotene). The effects of including a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in a typical diet for broiler chicken, on performance, meat quality, and fatty acid composition were evaluated. One hundred sixty 1-d-old male commercial broiler chicks (Ross 308) were housed in 20 battery brooders. During the 28-d growth period, the animals were fed ad libitum with a typical maize-soybean high-energy feed having access or not to a dehydrated leguminous-based forage provided in a separate feeder. The results revealed that dehydrated forage intake (which was 11.1% of the total intake) had no impact in broiler performance (P > 0.05). The capacity of ingested forage to modulate broiler meat fatty acid profile and the meat content in total cholesterol, tocopherols, tocotrienols, and β-carotene was investigated in broiler chicks slaughtered at d 28. Dehydrated forage consumption had no effect on the lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds and cholesterol contents of broiler meat but had a significant effect on meat fatty acid profile. Although forage intake did not affect the linoleic acid and ALA contents in poultry meat, the levels of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [eicosapentaenoic (P = 0.004), docosapentaenoic (P = 0.010), and docosahexaenoic (P = 0.007)] in breast meat were significantly higher in animals consuming leguminous biomass, which suggest a higher conversion of ALA into its derivatives in these birds. Overall, the data confirms that incorporation of a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in the diet for broiler chicks results in more favorable polyunsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids and n-6/n-3 nutritional ratios for animals slaughtered at earlier stages of grow.