Effects of dietary medium-chain fatty acids on performance, carcass characteristics, and some serum parameters of broiler chickens
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) on the performance, carcass characteristics, and some serum parameters of broiler chickens. A total of 176 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were assigned to four treatments including control treatment (basal diet), 0.1% MCFA, 0.2% MCFA, and 0.3% MCFA treatments according to a completely randomised design. Each treatment consisted of 4 replicates with 11 chicks for each replicate. In MCFA treatments, the amounts of MCFAs were added to basal diet as a substitution of soybean oil. There were not any significant differences in body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio among the treatments in different stages of the experiment. However, MCFA treatments had a lower abdominal fat and a higher breast yield compared to control treatment. Blood glucose, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol concentrations were significantly decreased, but blood high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol concentration was significantly increased in the MCFA treatments compared to the control treatment. These results indicate that dietary MCFA has a positive effect on the health and productivity of broiler chickens.