Dietary supplementation with chitosan oligosaccharide affects serum lipids and nutrient digestibility in broilers

T Tufan,C Arslan

doi:10.4314/sajas.v50i5.3

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine the effects of supplementation of chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) on the growth performance, blood parameters, carcass traits, fatty acid composition of breast meat, and apparent nutrient digestibility in broiler chickens. A total of 375 one-day-old Ross 308 male chicks were allocated to a control diet (T1) or diets supplemented with 50 ppm (T2) and 100 ppm (T3) of COS. There were five replicates of 25 chicks for each treatment. All the experimental birds were fed a starter (days 1 - 4), grower (days 15 - 28), and finisher diet (days 29 - 42). No differences were detected among treatments for live weight, gain, feed intake or feed conversion, except that feed intake was depressed in T3 during the grower period. Serum total protein and albumin levels did not differ among the treatments. Serum total cholesterol, low density lipoproteins (LDL), very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and triglyceride concentrations were reduced significantly by supplementation with COS, whereas the high density lipoprotein (HDL) concentration was significantly lower only for T2 relative to T1. The dressing percentage was significantly higher for T2 and T3 than for T1. Fatty acid composition of the breast meat was unaffected by the treatments. The digestibility of the diet and some of its constituents was affected in a graduated manner by the addition of COS. Thus, supplementation of broiler diets with COS improved carcass yield and had a hypolipidemic effect in improving the serum lipid profile Keywords: carcass, digestibility, hypolipidemic effect, performance

Highlights

Since 1 January 2006, antibiotics have been prohibited as feed additives in the European Union and other countries, including Turkey
Chitosan oligosaccharide is obtained from chitin by chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of polychitosan and has low molecular weight compared with chitin and chitosan
No differences were detected among the treatments for live weight, average live weight gain, average feed intake and feed conversion ratio during the starter, grower and finisher periods, except that feed intake was depressed in T3 during the grower period

Summary

Introduction

Since 1 January 2006, antibiotics have been prohibited as feed additives in the European Union and other countries, including Turkey. This prohibition has prompted further studies on alternative feed additives with similar effects. One of these compounds is chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), which is the second most common carbohydrate polymer in nature after cellulose. Chitosan oligosaccharide is obtained from chitin by chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of polychitosan and has low molecular weight compared with chitin and chitosan.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion