책임운영기관 농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 (로고)

Background: Looking for alternative omega-3 sources in broiler nutrition, microalgae began to get attention. We suspected that schizochytrium might play a similar role as other omega-3 sources that have been used before. Methods: 20 g/kg schizochytrium powder (SP), salmon oil (SO), and flaxseed oil (FO) in the each of the three treatment groups were supplemented in the basal diet (CON), and productive performance, carcass traits, and thigh meat quality of broilers were evaluated. Results: There was significantly higher weight gain only in SP treatment than the other groups, but no difference was found in feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Thiobarbituric acid reactive sub-stance values increased during storage in all of the treatments but were significantly lower for SP than for SO and FO after 7 days of storage. Among the ω-3 Fatty acids (FAs), α-linolenic acid in-creased the most in FO treatment, eicosapentaenoic acid increased the most in SO treatment, and docosahexaenoic acid increased the most in SP treatment in thigh meat, reflecting the FA compo-sition of the lipid source diets. Conclusions: We suggested that all the dietary ω-3 FA sources could improve the FA composition of chicken meat and our results indicate the possibility to supplement broiler diets with 2% level of SP, SO, and FO as ω-3 FA sources to produce meat with a good nu-tritional quality for consumer’s health benefits.