Live production and carcass characteristics of broilers fed a blend of poultry fat and corn oil derived from distillers dried grains with solubles

Corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are now being further processed to remove corn oil, which may be used as a dietary energy source for poultry. The objectives of this study were to compare the effects of a poultry fat (PF) and a new DDGS-derived corn oil blend (CO) on live performance and carcass characteristics of 49-d-old broilers. Four corn-soybean meal based diets were formulated with differing blends of PF and CO. All diets contained the same percentage of total fat, but differed in the fat source. One diet had the sole source of fat as PF (100:0% PF:CO) and was then replaced with 25% CO, 75% CO, and a 100% replacement of CO. Each of the diets was fed in a 3-phase feeding program to 6 replicate pens. At day of hatch, Ross × Ross 708 broilers were randomly allocated to 24 pens composed of 42 birds of equal sex. On d 49, 10 birds from each pen were processed, and carcass, abdominal fat pad, and breast muscle components were determined. There were no significant differences in live performance for the starter phase (0–18 d). For the grower phase (19–35 d), birds fed 75:25% PF:CO significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased BW, BW gain, and decreased feed conversion compared with the control (100:0% PF:CO). Birds fed 0:100% PF:CO also observed similar improvements in BW, BW gain, and feed conversion during the grower phase. There were no significant differences for the finisher phase (36–48 d). On d 49, live weights for birds fed the 0:100% PF:CO diets were significantly lower compared with other treatments. A trend for lower carcass and breast weights and increased abdominal fat was also observed for birds fed the 0:100% PF:CO. The addition of CO led to significant improvements in pellet durability for grower and finisher pellets. The results of this study indicate that DDGS-derived CO can be used to partially replace PF in broiler diets without any detrimental effects.