¹Department of Food Hygiene and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
²Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, 11000 Belgrade, REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
³Serbian Armed Forces, 11000 Belgrade, REPUBLIC OF SERBIA
⁴Faculty of Medicine Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Serbia and Institute of Public Health of Vojvodina, 21000 Novi Sad, REPUBLIC OF SERBIA DOI : 10.9775/kvfd.2018.21205 This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of dietary fat supplementation with linseed oil and/or pig lard on performance, carcass characteristics, fatty acid profile and serum biochemistry parameters in broiler chickens. In the study, 240 one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chickens were randomly distributed to one control and three experimental dietary groups: diet supplemented with pig lard; diet supplemented with linseed oil, and; diet supplemented with a 1:1 ratio of lard to linseed oil. The fat sources influenced serum biochemistry parameters and fatty acid profiles of drumsticks with thighs, but had no influence on growth performance or carcass characteristics. With dietary linseed oil, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid increased (P<0.05) in meat from drumsticks with thighs. Supplementation with pig lard significantly (P<0.05) increased the saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in drumsticks with thighs. In conclusion, dietary incorporation of linseed oil and pig lard during starter, grower and finisher phases can enrich broiler chickens meat with n-3 PUFA. This study has clearly shown that linseed oil in broiler nutrition provided the best n-6/n-3 ratio. Keywords : Broiler chickens, Carcass characteristics, n-3 PUFA rich oils, Lard