EFFECT OF DIETARY POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS AND ANTIOXIDANTS SUPPLEMENTATION ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, IMMUNE RESPONSE AND BLOOD PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

This study conducted to investigate the effects of dietary linseed oil (LO) or fish oil (FO) and/or antioxidants on productive performance, immune response, carcass traits and blood parameters of broiler chickens. A total of 168 one-day-old, Cobb broiler chicks were obtained from a local commercial hatchery. The birds were randomly divided into seven groups with three replicates, eight chicks each. Birds of the seven groups were fed on iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous diets containing the same ingredients (basal diet) except the source of oil and addition of antioxidants. The first group was fed on the basal diets containing 2% soya oil (control), the 2nd , 3rd and 4th groups were given the basal diets containing 2% LO, 2% LO + 200 mg vitamin E (vit E)/ kg or 2% LO + 0.2% Sweet Chestnut Tannin (SCT), respectively. While the 5th, 6th and 7th groups were offered the basal diet containing 2% FO, 2% FO + 200 mg vit E/ kg or 2% FO + 0.2% SCT, respectively. During the whole period, adding FO without or with antioxidants significantly (p≤ 0.05) increased live body weight, body weight gain compared to control. Feed intake was not significantly (p> 0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. All dietary treatments had (p≤ 0.05) lower feed conversion ratio than the control. Moreover, the best FCR were recorded for the FO + 0.2% SCT dietary group, followed by the LO + 2% SCT, FO and FO + 200 mg vit E/ kg groups. No significant (P≥ 0.05) difference among treatments was observed in carcass traits of broilers. Inclusion of FO with or without antioxidants in broiler diets improved antibody titer against SRBCs in immune response (p≤ 0.05) compared to control. A significant decrease in plasma total lipid concentration was observed with all dietary treatments. The best HDL value were observed for the FO + 0.2% SCT dietary group, followed by the FO and FO + 200 mg vit E/ kg groups. It could be concluded that the inclusion of 2% FO and/or antioxidants of the broiler diets improved the productive performance, immune response and plasma lipid of broilers. Moreover, the addition of 2% fish oil with 0.2% SCT as antioxidants recorded the best productive performance, immune response and plasma lipids of broilers.