The Effects of Dietary Omega 3 Fatty Acids on Commercial Broiler Lameness and Bone Integrity from Hatching to Market

摘要

The objective of this experiment was to investigate how different dietary ω-3 sources affect lameness and bone integrity of commercial broiler chickens from hatching to finishing.One hundred and twenty male Ross308broiler chicks were assigned to three dietary treatments; control, flaxseed oil and fish oil for 4 consecutive weeks. From week 1 to 4, broilers were visually assigned a lameness score (2 non-lame to 5 non-ambulatory) anda bone integrity score (score 2 normal bones to 5 bird was non-ambulatory and was removed from the trial).There were no observed differences for the dietary treatmentand week interaction for lameness or bone integrity (P= 1.00). There wasno observed lameness or bone integrity differences (P≥0.93) between dietary treatments. There were no observed differences for lameness (P= 0.92) and bone integrity differences(P= 1.00) over the four consecutive weeks. In conclusion, regardless of dietary treatment, birds in this study were not lame and had normal bone integrity.