Effect of Soybean Oil Supplementation to Low Metabolizable Energy Diets on Production Parameters of Broiler Chickens

Two experiments were conducted to study the performance and carcass quality of broilers in response to varying composition of a diet low in ME, through the supplementation of graded levels of soybean oil. In an initial study, isocaloric (2,965 kcal/kg) and isonitrogenous (21.7%) corn-soybean diets were supplemented with 10, 20, or 30 g/kg of soybean oil. In a second experiment, diets containing ME levels of 2,940 and 3,040 kcal/kg were supplemented with soybean oil levels of 20 or 40 g/kg. In both experiments, supplementation of up to 30 or 40 g of oil/kg of diet resulted in increases of 175 and 120 g (P < 0.05) in BW gain and 97 and 91 g (P ≤ 0.06) in ready-to-cook (RTC) carcass weight at 49 d, respectively. There was a linear decrease (P < 0.05) in percentage deposition of abdominal fat pad only in diets containing 2,965 (Experiment 1) or 2,940 (Experiment 2) kcal of ME/kg with no significant changes in RTC carcass and whole breast or pectoralis major muscle yields and RTC carcass composition. Improvements in production parameters can be achieved in broiler chickens fed a low ME diet through the addition of moderate levels of soybean oil.