| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4490179 | Agricultural Sciences in China | 2010 | 6 Pages |
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.
