Growth performance, carcass characteristics, fatty acid composition and sensory attributes of meat of broiler chickens fed diet incorporated with linseed oil

Day-old broiler chicks (240) were randomly distributed to 4 dietary groups with 10 replicates in each and raised for 42 days under uniform management conditions to determine the effect of supplementing omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid (FA) rich linseed oil (LO) on performance, carcass characteristics, meat fatty acid profile and sensory attributes of meat. A corn-soybean based starter (0-3 wk) and finisher (4-6 wk) control diets were formulated using sunflower oil (SFO). Subsequently, 3 experimental diets were formulated by replacing SFO with LO at 33, 67 and 100% levels. All experimental birds were provided feed and water ad lib. Body weights, feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured at weekly intervals. At the end of the experiment, 6 birds from each treatment were selected randomly and slaughtered to study the carcass traits (dressed weight, liver, giblet, breast meat and abdominal fat yield), fatty acid profile and to assess the sensory characters of meat. Dietary replacement of SFO with LO at all the levels (33, 67 or 100%) had no adverse effect on performance (weight gains, FI and FCR) and carcass traits. However, dietary incorporation of LO at 67 or 100% had significantly lowered the abdominal fat content. A significant increase in poly-unsaturated FA (PUFA), n-3 FA and a significant decrease in n-6:n-3 were noticed in breast and thigh muscle due to dietary incorporation of LO in the diets, the effect being more pronounced at the highest level of supplementation. Sensory attributes of meat was also not affected due to dietary incorporation of LO in broilers. It is concluded that dietary incorporation of LO at 2 and 3% level during starter and finisher phases, respectively, could enrich the meat with n-3 FA without affecting the performance of broilers and sensory characters of meat.