Effect of flaxseed oil supplemented diets on growth performance and meat quality traits in broilers

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of two flaxseed oil levels in the diet of male Ross 308 broilers on the growth performance, feed consumption, slaughter analysis, meat quality, chemical and fatty acid composition of breast and thigh muscles. A total of 180 one-day-old broiler chicks were weighed individually, randomly distributed in 3 groups (n=60 birds in each group; 4 replicates x 15 birds per replicate) and fed to 42 days of age with following diets containing: first group (G(1)) - 0%; second group (G(2)) - 1.5% and third group (G(3)) - 3.0% flaxseed oil. At the end of the experiment, chickens attained average body weight of 2485 +/- 49 g (G(1)), 2500 +/- 49 g (G(2)) and 2551 +/- 47 g (G3) without statistically significant differences - P > 0.05. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) for all periods was 1.74 kg/kg (G1), 1.58 kg/ kg (G2) and 1.57 kg/kg (G3). Higher water-holding capacity (WHC) was found for breast fillet in G(1) and G(2) compared to G(3) - P < 0.05, and for thigh muscle in G(1) and G(3) compared to G(2) - P < 0.05. No differences between the groups were found with regard to the tenderness of the meat - P > 0.05. With regard to fatty acids, with increasing the amount of flaxseed oil in the diet, the content of oleic, palmitic and palmitoleic acids in the breast fillet decreased while the quantity of linoleic and linolenic acids increased drastically - from 4.60 +/- 0.81 (G(1)) to 5.80 +/- 0.87 (G(2)) and to 13.27 +/- 0.15 (G(3)), and from 0.07 +/- 0.03 (G(1)) to 0.80 +/- 0.23 (G(2)) and to 6.77 +/- 0.55 (G(3)). The tendency of changes in fatty acids in thigh meat was similar - palmitic and palmitoleic acids decreased, and linoleic and linolenic acids increased dramatically - from 6.47 +/- 0.03 (G(1)) to 10.20 +/- 0.12 (G(2)) and to 11.23 +/- 1.59 (G(3)), from 0.10 +/- 0.06 (G(1)) to 2.60 +/- 0.23 (G(2)) and to 5.67 +/- 1.13 (G(3)). The addition of flaxseed oil in the diet decreased the amount of SFA, increased UFA, and PUFA in particular, which once again was due to the increased content of linoleic and linolenic acid in the lipids. The diet supplemented with 3.0% flaxseed oil showed the highest influence on the lipid composition of the broiler's meat.