Effects of dietary flaxseed meal on production performance, egg quality, and hatchability of Huoyan geese and fatty acids profile in egg yolk and thigh meat from their offspring

Effects of dietary flaxseed meal (FSM) on production performance, egg quality, hatchability, and fatty acids profiles in egg yolks of geese and thigh meat from their offspring were studied in a 35-d study. A total of 288 female Huoyan geese (28-wk-old) were divided into 4 experimental diets containing FSM at 0 (control), 50, 100, and 150 g/kg. There were 9 replicate pens per treatment with 8 geese per replicate pen. The total number of eggs produced (linear, P=0.04) and feed efficiency were greater (linear, P=0.04) in FSM containing groups than control diet. The inclusion of FSM in the geese diet linearly decreased the concentration of palmitic acid (linear, P=0.02) and saturated fatty acid (linear, P=0.05) in egg yolk, whereas the contents of C18:3n-3 (linear, P=0.04), C22:6n-3 (quadratic, P=0.05), total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; linear, P=0.01), and total n-3 PUFA (linear, P=0.01) were enhanced as the FSM levels increased. The arachidonic acid concentration (P=0.05) and n-6/n-3 ratio (P<0.05) also linearly decreased as the FSM inclusion level increased. At the end of the 35-d breeder experiment, all hatching eggs laid in 6 consecutive days in each group were collected and incubated. In 1-d-old goslings, the inclusion of FSM linearly decreased C16:0 (P=0.03) and total saturated fatty acid (P=0.04) concentrations in thigh meat. The contents of C18:3n-3 increased (linear, P=0.01), whereas C20:4n-6 decreased (linear, P=0.01) in FSM supplemented groups compared to control group. The concentrations of PUFA and total n-3 PUFA were linearly increased (P=0.04 and 0.01, respectively) and the n-6/n-3 ratio decreased linearly (P=0.02) as the FSM levels increased. In conclusion, dietary addition of FSM up to 150 g/kg levels improved the egg production without any effect on egg quality and breeding performance. Moreover, feeding FSM to geese can increase the n-3 fatty acids concentration in egg yolk and deposition in the offspring in a dose-dependent manner.