Investigations on the effect of palm butter and safflower oil in the feed of broiler breeder hens on fertility, hatchability and growth of progeny

摘要

Two experiments with broiler breeder hens were conducted to evaluate the effect of diets containing palm butter or safflower oil (25 g and 50 g/kg feed, respectively) on fertility, hatchability and growth of progeny. The incorporation of oleic and linoleic acid in egg yolk reflected dietary fatty acid source. Eggs were collected and stored in the incubator at a hen age of 31, 40, 50, and 60 weeks. Hatched chicks were reared over 5 weeks. The number of fertile eggs (experiment 1 and 2, 75 and 88%, respectively) differed between the experiments (P<=0.05). Neither embryonic mortality nor hatchability (experiment 1 and 2, 76 and 78%, respectively) were significantly affected by fatty acid composition of yolk. No clear maternal dietary effect was recorded on chicken weight at hatching (experiment 1 and 2, 43.3 and 43.7 g, respectively) and at 35 days of age (experiment 1 and 2, 1676 and 1764 g, respectively). The fatty acid composition in the analysed egg yolk sac of chicks showed a different fatty level but corresponded to fatty acid composition of breeding eggs before incubation. A decreased level of docosahexaenoic acid in egg yolk was noted due to increased incorporation of linoleic acid; content of this fatty acid also decreased in phospholipidsof the brain of chickens on days 1 and 5 after hatching.