The effects of different dietary lipid sources on growth traits and hepatic histopathology of broiler chickens were investigated. Hubbard strain one-day old chickens (n=120) were kept in pens and were fed one of the three corn-soybean meal-based diets until 49 days of age. The dietary treatments consisted of 2.5% added oil or fat from three sources as follows: SFO diet containing sunflower oil; LRD diet containing lard, and EVOO diet containing extra-virgin olive oil. Dietary oil or fat type improved significantly body weight and gain as well as feed efficiency in birds fed EVOO compared to those fed the other treatments. Based on our findings, after the whole experimental feeding period it was possible to observe relevant injuries to the liver of the chicks fed with lard, whereas the hepatic histopathological changes appeared less marked or absent in the chicks fed vegetable oils from sunflower or olive. Thus, we can conclude that dietary lipid source affected chicks performance and hepatic histopathology especially when chicks fed diet containing animal fats; whereas feeding extra-virgin olive oil supported positively growth traits and did not result in hepatic histopathological effects.
Keywords: Chickens; Growth; Histopathology; Lipids; Liver.
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