The Effects of Dietary Fatty Acid Pattern on Layer's Performance and Egg Quality

The feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of flaxseed on layer's performance and egg quality, and the effects of the dietary ratio of ω-6 fatty acid to ω-3 fatty acid on fatty acid deposition in yolk using flaxseed as resource of ω-3 fatty acid and sunflower seed as resource of ω-6 fatty acid. 192 20-wk-old Newroman commercial hens were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups with 6 replicates containing 8 birds. The rations corresponding with the four treatments were formulated with 4% flaxseed + 9% sunflower seed, 8% flaxseed + 18% sunflower seed, 15% flaxseed, and soybean meal, respectively. Sunflower seed was unshelled and flaxseed was whole. Ratios of ω-6 fatty acid to ω-3 fatty acid in 4 dietary treatments were 5.67, 5.21, 1.07, and 11.83, respectively. It can be concluded that long-term feeding 15% flaxseed had no significant (P > 0.05) influence on egg production, egg weight, eggshell quality, yolk weight, and percentage of yolk weight. Dietary ratio of ω-6 fatty acid to ω-3 fatty acid had impact on the ω-3 fatty acid levels in yolk, nevertheless yolk fatty acid profiles were different from those of dietary fatty acid compositions.