The effects of functional oils on broiler diets of varying energy levels

Abstract

Some plant oils have been labeled "functional oils" because they have biological activities beyond their energy value. Recently, it has been shown that the effects of some functional oils on broiler performance are similar to the effects of antibiotic growth promoters. A commercial mixture of functional oils (containing castor oil and cashew nut shell liquid as the active ingredients) in diets with 3 ME levels (industry standard, industry standard minus 100 kcal/kg, and industry standard minus 200 kcal/kg) was used to study the effects on the performance of 2,250 broiler chicks from 1 to 42 d of age. In addition, the effects of supplementing the functional oils in the low-energy diets were studied in chicks from 21 to 42 d of age and from 35 to 42 d of age. Therefore, at the end of the experiment, there were 10 treatments, with 9 floor pens per treatment. Adding functional oils to the feed not only improved the BW gains and FCR of the birds compared with diets with the same ME, but it also allowed for a decrease in ME of 100 kcal/kg without negatively affecting performance parameters. These improvements in performance might be related to the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of the functional oils. ©2012 Poultry Science Association, Inc.