Effect of dietary lipid sources on lipid oxidation of broiler meat

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different dietary lipid sources and inclusion levels on lipid oxidation of thigh and breast muscle of male broilers. Eight isoenergetic (15.12 MJ AME/kg DM) and isonitrogenous (222.8 CP/kg DM) diets were formulated, using sunflower oil (SO), high oleic sunflower oil (HOSO), fish oil (FO) and tallow (T) at 30 g/kg and 60 g/kg inclusion levels. Eight hundred, day-old Ross 788 broiler males were randomly allocated to the eight treatments (n = 100) and further subdivided into four replicates/treatment (n = 25). All birds received a standard diet for 14 days whereafter the experimental diets were fed for an additional 28 days until termination of the study. Birds were slaughtered under commercial abattoir conditions at 42 days of age. Carcasses from 12 birds per treatment (n = 12) were trimmed for breast and thigh cuts by removing the skin. Twelve breast and thigh samples from each treatment group were stored at 4 °C for seven days under an oxygen permeable overwrap film and another 12 breast and thigh samples were vacuum packed and stored at -18 °C for 100 days. Meat samples were used for thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) analysis. Birds fed FO showed significantly more oxidation in both thigh and breast meat than birds from any of the other treatments during storage. These results indicated that dietary lipid sources do influence the lipid oxidation processes of broiler meat.