Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LIX
Written by Vasile BUNDUC, Margareta OLTEANU, Rodica Diana CRISTE, Tatiana Dumitra PANAITE, Mariana ROPOTA, Monica MITOI
Due to their multiple positive, acknowledged effects of the omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids, present day consumers are increasing interested in ways of incorporating these fatty acids in their daily diet. The production of eggs enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids via the feeds given to layers is one way, but solutions have to found to preserve for a longer time the organoleptic properties of these enriched eggs. It appeared thus necessary to use antioxidants, natural mainly, in layer diets. Due to their high content of polyphenols, the natural antioxidants block oxidation by their reaction with the free radicals. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of a winery by-product, grape seeds meal, displaying antioxidant properties, given to layers, on egg quality. The experiment was conducted at a commercial poultry farm owned by Avicola Lumina SA, for 4 weeks, on a total of 64.000 layers aged 27 weeks, Tetra SL LL hybrid. The layers were assigned to two groups, control (C) and experimental (E), of 32.000 layers each. The diets were based on corn, soybean meal and sunflower meal, and had the same protein and energy content. The diet of the experimental group differed by the inclusion of flax meal and camelina meal, as ingredients rich in unsaturated fatty acids, and of 1% grape seed meal, as natural antioxidant. Egg samples were collected in the end of the experiment and assayed for their quality. The higher concentration of omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids in the diet for group E (12.26 ± 0.15 g/100 g fat) compared to group C (7.28 ± 0.89 g/100 g fat) was also found in the yolk of the sampled eggs, which increased from 3.33 ± 0.20 g/100 g fat in group C, to 5.76 ± 0.30 g/100 g fat in group E. The higher antioxidant capacity, 7.157 ± 0.662 mM Trolox equivalent / g of the diet for group E, compared to 6.507 ± 0.401 mM Trolox equivalent / g of the diet for group C, also increased the antioxidant capacity of the eggs. Thus, the eggs harvested from group E had an antioxidant capacity of 126.353 ± 4.523 mM Trolox equivalent / g, compared to 115.300 ± 7.269 mM Trolox equivalent / g in the eggs collected from group C. These results that the winey by-product, grape seed meal, can be used as antioxidant feed additive in layer diets enriched in unsaturated fatty acids, thus improving the properties of the eggs.
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