The effects of long (C20/22) and short (C18) chain omega-3 fatty acids on keel bone fractures, bone biomechanics, behavior, and egg production in free-range laying hens.

Keel fractures in the laying hen are the most critical animal welfare issue facing the egg production industry, particularly with the increased use of extensive systems in response to the 2012 EU directive banning conventional battery cages. The current study is aimed at assessing the effects of 2 omega-3 (n3) enhanced diets on bone health, production endpoints, and behavior in free-range laying hens. Data was collected from 2 experiments over 2 laying cycles, each of which compared a (n3) supplemented diet with a control diet. Experiment 1 employed a diet supplemented with a 60:40 fish oil-linseed mixture (n3:n6 to 1.35) compared with a control diet (n3:n6 to 0.11), whereas the n3 diet in Experiment 2 was supplemented with a 40:60 fish oil-linseed (n3:n6 to 0.77) compared to the control diet (n3:n6 to 0.11). The n3 enhanced diet of Experiment 1 had a higher n3:n6 ratio, and a greater proportion of n3 in the long chain (C20/22) form (0.41 LC:SC) than that of Experiment 2 (0.12 LC:SC). Although dietary treatment was successful in reducing the frequency of fractures by approximately 27% in Experiment 2, data from Experiment 1 indicated the diet actually induced a greater likelihood of fracture (odds ratio: 1.2) and had substantial production detriment. Reduced keel breakage during Experiment 2 could be related to changes in bone health as n3-supplemented birds demonstrated greater load at failure of the keel, and tibiae and humeri that were more flexible. These results support previous findings that n3-supplemented diets can reduce fracture likely by increasing bone strength, and that this can be achieved without detriment to production. However, our findings suggest diets with excessive quantities of n3, or very high levels of C20/22, may experience health and production detriments. Further research is needed to optimize the quantity and type of n3 in terms of bone health and production variables and investigate the potential associated mechanisms.

Reproductive long-term effects, endocrine response and fatty acid profile of rabbit does fed diets supplemented with n-3 fatty acids

The effect of a diet enriched with polyunsaturated n -3 fatty acids (PUFA) on endocrine, reproductive, and productive responses of rabbit females and the litters has been studied. Nulliparous does ( n = 125) were fed ad libitum from rearing to second weaning two diets supplemented with different fat sources: 7.5 g/kg lard for the control diet (group C; n = 63) or 15 g/kg of a commercial supplement containing a 50% ether extract and 35% of total fatty acids (FAs) as PUFA n -3 (Group P; n = 62). Dietary treatments did not affect apparent digestibility coefficients of nutrients, or reproductive variables of does including milk pro- duction, mortality and average daily gain of kits over two lactations. However, on Day 5 and 7 post-induction of ovulation, progesterone of Group P tended to increase to a greater extent than in does of Group C. Total PUFAs, n -6 and n -3 and eicosapentanoic (EPA) contents were greater in adipose tissues of does in Group P than in Group C. Docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentrations were greater in peri-ovarian than in scapular fat with abdominal fat being intermediate in concentration. In PUFA sup- plemented does, kit mortality at the second parturition tended to be less than in control does. Also, kits born to does of the PUFA-supplemented group weighed more and were of greater length than from does of control group. In conclusion, effectiveness of dietary intervention on reproductive and performance response is greater in the second parity, which suggests an accumulative long-term beneficial effect of n -3 FA supplementation in reproductive rabbit does

Effects of nutrition on digestión efficiency and gaseous emissions from slurry in growing pigs: III. Influence of varying the dietary level of calcium soap of palm fatty acids distillate with or without orange pulp supplemention

The aim of this study was to establish the relationships between faecal fat concentration and gaseous emissions from pig slurry. Five diets were designed to meet essential nutrient requirements: a control and four experimental feeds including two levels (35 or 70 g/kg) of calcium soap fatty acids distillate (CSP) and 0 or 200 g/kg of orange pulp (OP) combined in a 2 × 2 factorial structure. Thirty growing pigs (six per treatment) were used to measure dry matter (DM) and N balance, coefficients of total tract apparent digestibility (CTTAD) of nutrients, faecal and urine composition and potential emissions of ammonia (NH3) and methane (CH4). Increasing dietary CSP level decreased DM, ether extract (EE) and crude protein (CP) CTTAD (by 4.0, 11.1 and 3.5%, respectively, P < 0.05), but did not influence those of fibrous constituents. It also led to a decrease (from 475 to 412 g/kg DM, P < 0.001) of faecal concentration of neutral detergent fibre (aNDFom) and to an increment (from 138 to 204 g/kg, P < 0.001) of EE in faecal DM that was related to greater CH4 emissions, both per gram of organic matter (P = 0.021) or on a daily basis (P < 0.001). Level of CSP did not affect N content in faeces or urine, but increased daily DM (P < 0.001), and N (P = 0.031) faecal excretion with no effect on urine N excretion. This resulted in lesser (P = 0.036) NH3 potential emission per kg of slurry. Addition of OP decreased CTTAD of EE (by 7.9%, P = 0.044), but increased (P < 0.05) that of all the fibrous fractions. As a consequence, faecal EE content increased (from 165 to 177 g/kg DM; P = 0.012), and aNDFom decreased greatly (from 483 to 404 g/kg DM, P < 0.001), which in all resulted in a lack of effect of OP on CH4 potential emission. Inclusion of OP in the diet also led to a significant decrease of CP CTTAD (by 6.85%, P < 0.001), and to an increase of faecal CP concentration (from 174 to 226 g/kg DM, P < 0.001), with no significant influence on urine N content. These effects resulted in higher N faecal losses, especially those of the undigested dietary origin, without significant effects on potential NH3 emission. No significant interactions between CSP and OP supplementation were observed for the gaseous emissions measured.