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Improving the Lipid Nutritive Value of Poultry Meat Through the Incorporation of a Dehydrated Leguminous-Based Forage in the Diet for Broiler Chicks

P. I. P. Ponte^*, J. A. M. Prates^*, J. P. Crespo, D. G. Crespo, J. L. Mourão, S. P. Alves, R. J. B. Bessa, M. A. Chaveiro-Soares^#, L. M. A. Ferreira^* and C. M. G. A. Fontes^*,1

^* Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal—Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal; Fertiprado, Herdade dos Esquerdos, 7450-250 Vaiamonte, Portugal; Centro de Ciência Animal e Veterinária—Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Apartado 1013, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal; Estação Zootécnica Nacional, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e das Pescas, Fonte Boa, 2005-048 Vale de Santarém, Portugal; and ^# Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal

¹ Corresponding author: cafontes{at}fmv.utl.pt

Dehydrated forages are assumed to be good sources of -linolenic acid (ALA) and lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds (vitamin E homologs and β-carotene). The effects of including a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in a typical diet for broiler chicken, on performance, meat quality, and fatty acid composition were evaluated. One hundred sixty 1-d-old male commercial broiler chicks (Ross 308) were housed in 20 battery brooders. During the 28-d growth period, the animals were fed ad libitum with a typical maize-soybean high-energy feed having access or not to a dehydrated leguminous-based forage provided in a separate feeder. The results revealed that dehydrated forage intake (which was 11.1% of the total intake) had no impact in broiler performance (P > 0.05). The capacity of ingested forage to modulate broiler meat fatty acid profile and the meat content in total cholesterol, tocopherols, tocotrienols, and β-carotene was investigated in broiler chicks slaughtered at d 28. Dehydrated forage consumption had no effect on the lipid-soluble antioxidant compounds and cholesterol contents of broiler meat but had a significant effect on meat fatty acid profile. Although forage intake did not affect the linoleic acid and ALA contents in poultry meat, the levels of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids [eicosapentaenoic (P = 0.004), docosapentaenoic (P = 0.010), and docosahexaenoic (P = 0.007)] in breast meat were significantly higher in animals consuming leguminous biomass, which suggest a higher conversion of ALA into its derivatives in these birds. Overall, the data confirms that incorporation of a dehydrated leguminous-based forage in the diet for broiler chicks results in more favorable polyunsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids and n-6/n-3 nutritional ratios for animals slaughtered at earlier stages of grow.

Key Words: broiler • leguminous-based forage • meat quality • fatty acid profile

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