Vol. 6, Issue 11 (2017)

Author(s):
Jyoti Shunthwal and Nancy Sheoran

Abstract:
Interest on the enrichment of poultry meat with n-3 fatty acids has increased given its important role in human health. Recently there is shift from quantity production to quality production. Linseed oil is the main plant origin sources of n-3 fatty acids, and contains between 45 to 71% of total fatty acids of the oil as omega-3 i.e. α-linolenic acid. Dietary composition and feeding strategies may offer practical and efficient solutions for altering type of fat deposition in broiler meat. This paper reviews the possibility of n-3 enrichment of broiler meat. Its focus is on the inclusion of linseed oil and linseed and begins by summarizing the benefits of supplementation on broiler performance. The literature on its effect on different growth parameters, blood parameters and also on altering the FA deposition in different tissues is then reviewed. Flaxseed supplementation caused a reduction in the abdominal fat pad, and the main fatty acid deposited in the tissue is LNA. The blood serum parameter are also altered with reduced blood cholesterol and LDL whereas, increased HDL level. The use of fold-change analysis allowed interpreting and determining the variation of results within experiments that do not report data in similar units of measure. The fold change analysis identified three categories of desaturation response to feeding flaxseed to broilers, resulting in different values for EPA and DHA in both breast and thigh tissues: high, medium and low fold-changes. The use of linseed oil, whole or ground flaxseed before slaughter is recommended to poultry producers as feeding strategies to optimize n-3 enrichment, without compromising animal performance.