Supranutrition of microalgal docosahexaenoic acid and calcidiol improved growth performance, tissue lipid profiles, and tibia characteristics of broiler chickens

• Published in: Journal of animal science and biotechnology 2023-03, Vol.14 (1), p.27-27, Article 27
• Main Authors: Kalia, Sahil, Magnuson, Andrew D, Sun, Tao, Liu, Guanchen, Kim, Woo Kyun, Johnson, Zackary, Lei, Xin Gen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Aquatic microorganisms; Biomass; Birds; Body weight; Body weight gain; Bone mineral density; Broiler; Calcidiol; Chickens; Chicks; Cholesterol; Diet; Docosahexaenoic acid; Eicosapentaenoic acid; Experiments; Fatty acids; Feeds; Growth performance; Juveniles; Lipids; Liver; Metabolism; Microalgae; Muscles; Nutrients; Nutrition; Physical growth; Poultry; Soybeans; Thigh; Tibia; Triglycerides; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1674-9782; 2049-1891; 2049-1891
• DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00842-3

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and calcidiol could be enriched in chicken for improving public nutrition and health. It remains unclear if supranutritional levels of DHA and calcidiol impair growth performance or metabolism of broiler chickens. This study was to determine singular and combined effects of high levels of supplemental DHA-rich microalgal biomass or oil and calcidiol on growth performance, concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and nonesterfied fatty acids in plasma, liver, breast, and thigh, and biophysical properties of tibia. In Exp. 1, 144 day-old Cornish chicks were divided into 4 groups (6 cages/treatment, 6 birds/cage), and were fed a corn-soybean meal basal diet (BD), BD + 10,000 IU calcidiol/kg (BD + Cal), BD + 1% DHA-rich Aurantiochytrium (1.2 g DHA/kg; BD + DHA), and BD + Cal + DHA for 6 weeks. In Exp. 2, 180 day-old chicks were divided into 5 groups, and were fed: BD, BD + DHA (0.33% to 0.66% oil, 1.5 to 3.0 g DHA/kg), BD + DHA + EPA (1.9% to 3.8% eicosapentaenoic acid-rich Nannochloropsis sp. CO18, 0.3 to 0.6 g EPA/kg), BD + DHA + calcidiol (6000 to 12,000 IU/kg diet), and BD + DHA + EPA + Cal for 6 weeks. Birds fed BD + Cal diet in Exp. 1 and BD + DHA + EPA diet in Exp. 2 had higher (P