Effect of synbiotic supplementation and dietary fat sources on broiler performance, serum lipids, muscle fatty acid profile and meat quality

A 42-d trial was conducted to investigate the effect of adding a synbiotic supplement to diets containing two different types of fat on performance, blood lipids and fatty acid (FA) composition and oxidative stability of breast and thigh meat in broilers.A total of 800 one-d-old male broiler chickens were randomly assigned into 1 of 8 treatments with 4 replicates of 25 birds per treatment. The experiment consisted of a 4x2 factorial arrangement of treatments including 4 concentrations of synbiotic (0, 0.5, 1 or 1.5g/kg diet) and 2 types of fat [sunflower oil (SO) or canola oil (CO)] at an inclusion rate of 50g/kg diet.Dietary fat type did not affect body weight gain (BWG) or feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the overall experimental period (0-42d). However, fat type modified serum lipid profile and FA composition and 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) content in breast and thigh meat.The addition of synbiotic to the diet linearly improved overall BWG and FCR and also decreased serum cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. The TBARS value in thigh meat after 30d of storage at 4 degrees C was linearly decreased as the synbiotic inclusion concentrations in the diets increased. Dietary synbiotic also decreased the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids and increased n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) concentration in thigh meat, whereas the FA profile of breast meat was not affected by synbiotic supplementation. Moreover, the PUFA/SFA ratio in the breast meat was linearly increased when synbiotic was included in the CO-containing diets.In conclusion, the addition of synbiotic to broiler diets had a positive effect on growth performance, blood lipid profile and meat quality. The results also support the use of synbiotic to increase the capacity of canola oil for enhancing PUFA/SFA ratio of breast meat in broilers.