Nutrient digestibility, egg quality, and fatty acid composition of brown laying hens fed camelina or flaxseed meal
2013
Aziza, A.E. | Panda, A.K. | Quezada, N. | Cherian, G.
Flaxseed and camelina are gaining popularity as feed ingredients because of their high content of α-linolenic acid (18:3n-3), an n-3 fatty acid. The current study was designed to evaluate apparent fatty acid and CP digestibility, AMEₙ, egg quality, and egg yolk fatty acids of brown egg layers fed a corn-soybean diet containing 10% camelina or flax meal. Experimental diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. A total of seventy-five 24-wk-old Lohman brown hens were randomly allocated to 3 treatments, with 5 replicates containing 5 hens in each replicate. The hens were fed a corn-soybean basal diet (control), or control diet with 10% camelina meal (CAM10) or flax meal (FLAX10) for a period of 12 wk. The apparent digestibility of fatty acids, CP, and AMEₙ were measured using celite (external inert marker). Egg quality parameters were determined every 28 d during the experimental period. The CP digestibility and AMEₙ were decreased (P < 0.05) in CAM10 and FLAX10 compared with control. Feeding CAM10 or FLAX10 resulted in higher egg production (P < 0.05) compared with the control. The egg weights and Haugh units increased, and eggshell thickness decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in FLAX10 birds. The egg yolk content of α-linolenic acid and total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher in CAM10 than in other treatments (P < 0.05). α-Linolenic acid digestibility was lowest in FLAX10 birds. Feeding CAM10 reduced the digestibility of linoleic acid (18:2n-6) (P < 0.05). In general, inclusion of camelina and flax meal reduced CP digestibility and AMEₙ while increasing egg production in brown layers.
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