INFLUENCE OF ADDING LINSEED OR SUNFLOWER OILS TO DIETS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKS

Abstract

The present study was carried out in a private commercial broilers farm at Berket EL-Saab city, Menoufia governorate, Egypt, during the period from May to June 2019. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of adding two vegetable oils, linseed or sunflower, in broiler diets, on growth performance, some blood components, some carcass traits, immunity and economic efficiency. A total number of one hundred and eighty, one day old unsexed Arbor Acres broiler chicks were used in this study. Chicks were individually weighed, wing banded and randomly assigned to three treatments (T1, T2 and T3), 3 replicates pens of 20 birds each nearly similar in average body weight (42g). Two vegetable oils, linseed or sunflower, were added at the level of 3% in broiler diets. The experimental groups were as follows: T1: Control (basal diet without oil), T2: basal diet with 3% linseed oil and T3: basal diet with 3% sunflower oil. Results revealed that body weight, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and performance index were significantly improved (P ≤ 0.05) with the addition of vegetable oils from 1 - 35 days of age compared to the control birds. Birds fed linseed oil had higher values of white blood cells (WBCs), total cholesterol, triglyceride and high density lipo-protein (HDL), while low density lipo-protein (LDL) was the lowest value compared to the other groups. Linseed or sunflower oils addition significantly and liver %, while dressing percentage, heart and gizzard % were not affected. Immune organs proportion (spleen, thymus and bursa %) were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased when birds received linseed oil supplement compared to birds fed sunflower oil supplement or basal diet (control). Chicks fed linseed oil treatment recorded the highest relative economic efficiency (108.20 %), followed by chicks fed sunflower oil (103.28), considering the control group as 100%. It could be concluded that supplementation of 3% linseed oil to the broiler diets can be used with no adverse effects, and with improving body weight, feed conversion ratio, performance index and increasing the proportion of immune organs and relative economical efficiency.