Supranutrition of microalgal docosahexaenoic acid and calcidiol improved growth performance, tissue lipid profiles, and tibia characteristics of broiler chickens

Table 6 Effects of supplementation of DHA-rich microalgal oil, EPA-rich microalgal biomass, and calcidiol on tibia bone properties of broiler chickens at week 6 in Exp. 2

Item	BD	BD + DHA	BD + DHA+ EPA	BD + DHA+ Cal	BD + DHA+ EPA + Cal	SEM	P-value
Total BMD, g/cm³	0.27^ab	0.26^a	0.29^ab	0.31^b	0.30^ab	0.01	0.04
Total bone volume, %	34^a	34^a	37^ab	38^b	36^ab	1.5	0.04
Cortical BMD, g/cm³	0.60	0.58	0.61	0.66	0.65	0.03	0.38
Cortical bone Vvolume, %	100	100	100	100	100	0.001	0.20
Trabecular BMD, g/cm³	0.10	0.10	0.12	0.10	0.10	0.02	0.94
Trabecular bone volume, %	9.97	10.1	11.4	10.4	9.99	1.44	0.97
Trabecular thickness, mm	0.14	0.14	0.15	0.16	0.15	0.01	0.19
Trabecular separation, mm	1.20	1.31	1.22	1.24	1.36	0.11	0.52
Degree of anisotropy	1.70	1.72	1.65	1.66	1.63	0.05	0.72

BMD Bone mineral density
0–3 weeks: BD = Corn-soybean basal diet; BD + DHA = BD + 1.5 g of DHA oil/kg; BD + DHA + EPA = BD + DHA + 0.3 g/kg Nannochloropsis sp. CO18; BD + DHA + Cal = BD + DHA + 6000 IU calcidiol/kg; BD + DHA + EPA + Cal = BD + DHA + EPA (0.3 g/kg Nannochloropsis sp. CO18) + 6000 IU calcidiol/kg
4–6 Weeks: BD = Corn-soybean basal diet; BD + DHA = BD + 3.0 g DHA oil/kg; BD + DHA + EPA = BD + DHA + 0.6 g/kg Nannochloropsis sp. CO18; BD + DHA + Cal = BD + DHA + 12,000 IU calcidiol/kg; BD + DHA + EPA + Cal = BD + DHA + EPA (0.6 g/kg Nannochloropsis sp. CO18) + 12,000 IU calcidiol/kg
^a,bMeans bearing the different superscripts in a row differ (P < 0.05)
Values are expressed as means of 6 birds/treatment and data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA

ISSN: 2049-1891