Veterinary Archives, Vol. 83 No. 2, 2013.
Original scientific paper
Effects of early castration on production performance, serum lipids, fatty acid profile and desaturation indexes in male chicken broilers fed a diet with increased fat content.
Tomislav Mašek
; Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Krešimir Severin
; Department of Judicial Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Željko Gottstein
; Department of Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Natalija Filipović
; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia
Zvonko Stojević
; Department of Physiology and Radiobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Željko Mikulec
; Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper analyses the effect of early caponisation, at 18 days, on the production performance, lipid metabolism and fatty acid profile of fattening broilers fed an increased amount of fat. Early castration did not influence growth performance and feed intake in the experimental birds. Feed conversion was significantly improved in castrated birds (P<0.05). Triglyceride and total cholesterol values were not significantly influenced (P>0.05) by early castration. Glucose values were significantly higher on the 25th (P<0.05) and 40th (P<0.01) day in sham operated birds in comparison to castrated. Fatty acid composition of the thigh muscle was significantly influenced by castration. The most noticeable difference was in the increased percentage of saturated fatty acids (P<0.05) in castrated birds in comparison to uncastrated. Moreover, the saturation index and the thrombogenic index were higher (P<0.05) in castrated birds and unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio was higher (P<0.05) in uncastrated birds.
Keywords
castration; serum lipids; fatty acid profile; growth performance
Hrčak ID:
99868
URI
Publication date:
28.3.2013.
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