Abstract
An experiment was conducted to determine effects of different levels and sources of fats in diets on growth performance, carcass characteristics and immune response of turkeys during four periods (0-21, 22 to 42, 43 to 63 and 64 to 70 days of age). A completely randomized design with five treatments, six replicates and eight B.U.T.6 turkey chickens per replicate was used. Treatments included: Control diet, diet containing 2.5% of soybean oil, diet containing 2.5% fat supplement, diet containing 5% soybean oil, diet containing 5% fat supplement. The results showed that using 5% of soybean oil increased average daily gain of turkeys (89.04 g) throughout the experimental period (0-70 days) compared with the control group (81.11 g; p < 0.05). Treatments containing 2.5 and 5% soybean oil improved feed conversion ratio compared to control group (p < 0.05). Soybean oil at the levels of 2.5 and 5% was led to higher spleen and bursa percentages compared to other treatments, respectively (p < 0.05). The level and source of dietary fat had not significant effect on antibody titer against Newcastle virus vaccine on 42 and 70 days of age (p > 0.05). It can be concluded that supplementing diet with 5% soybean oil improved the performance of turkeys.
Highlights
In recent years, interest in the use of feed components or feed additives with immunomodulatory properties has increased significantly, especially in conditions of intensive poultry and pig production, where many stressful factors have an adverse effect on animal metabolic status and health (Darabighane & Nahashon, 2014; El Enshasy & Hatti-Kaul, 2013)
In the period of 22-42 days of age, control treatment significantly increased feed intake compared to 5% supplemented soybean oil (p < 0.05), other experimental treatments did not show any significant difference (p > 0.05)
In the period of 43-63 days of age, the treatment containing 5% supplemented fat powder significantly increased feed intake compared to 2.5% supplemented soybean oil (p < 0.05), and other experimental treatments showed a non-significant difference
Summary
Interest in the use of feed components or feed additives with immunomodulatory properties has increased significantly, especially in conditions of intensive poultry and pig production, where many stressful factors have an adverse effect on animal metabolic status and health (Darabighane & Nahashon, 2014; El Enshasy & Hatti-Kaul, 2013). Other benefits involve improved feed efficiency, increased growth rates of birds, decreased dustiness of feeds, lower heat increment during heat stress and feed palatability. Fat sources used in the poultry diet are derived from animal and plant sources and are considered as components with high energy content (Mossab, Hallouis, & Lessire, 2000). By increasing fat sources to broiler diet, the amount of feed intake decreased and feed efficiency was improved (Firman, Leigh, & Kamyab, 2010)
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