Growth performance, nutrient digestibility and intramuscular fatty acid composition of chickens fed Camelina Cake

The objective of the study was to investigate the influence of different amounts of camelina cake in chicken feed on their growth performance, nutrient digestibility and meat fatty acid composition. The base part of the control group (C) diet consisted of corn and soybean meal, while in the diets of the experimental groups the soybean meal was replaced by 5% camelina cake in the CAM5 group and 10% in the CAM10 group. Study results showed that the growth performance indicators of CAM5, CAM10 groups chickens did not differ from the C group. Although the digestibility of dry matter (P ≤ 0.01), organic matter (P ≤ 0.01) and protein (P ≤ 0.05-P ≤ 0.01) was lower in the CAM5 and CAM10 groups, the inclusion of camelina cake positively impacted meat fatty acid composition. We found significantly higher levels of various beneficial fatty acids in CAM5 and CAM10 groups: the muscles of the chickens of experimental groups contained 2.49 – 3.80 (P ≤ 0.01) -linolenic, 1.7 – 2.67 eicosapentaenoic (P ≤ 0.01), 1.83 – 2.28 docosapentaenoic (P ≤ 0.01), 1.73 – 2.17 docosahexaenoic acids (P ≤ 0.05-P ≤ 0.01), 1.72 – 2.47 total LC n-3 PUFA (P ≤ 0.05-P ≤ 0.01) and 2.29 – 3.36 total n-3 PUFA (P ≤ 0.01) times more than in the muscles of the control group. Also, significantly better n-6/n-3 and linoleic /linolenic ratio, as well as thrombogenic index, were found in the both experimental groups (P ≤ 0.01). The optimal n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio was determined in CAM10 group and according to the European Commission Nutrition Claims, the meat of chickens grown in the CAM10 group can be classified as a source of Omega-3 fatty acids based on the ALA content