Effects of olive cake meal on serum constituents and fatty acid levels in breast muscle of Japanese quail

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining the effects of various levels of dietary olive cake meal (OCM) on certain blood parameters and breast muscle fatty acid and cholesterol levels. For this purpose, 400 day-old Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) chicks of both sexes were randomly assigned to four trial groups, each including five replicates of 20 animals. The quail were fed on a maize and soybean meal-based basal diet supplemented with 0%, 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% of OCM for six weeks. Dietary supplementation with 5% and 7.5% of OCM decreased total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the blood serum, and increased cholesterol levels in the breast muscle. Dietary supplementation with various levels of OCM decreased saturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid levels, and increased monounsaturated fatty acid and total unsaturated fatty acid levels in the breast muscle. As a result, it was concluded that, olive cake meal, which contains a high level of olive oil, could be incorporated in poultry feed at a level of 5%, owing to its beneficial effects of decreasing serum LDL cholesterol, which plays a major role in the aetiology of cardiovascular diseases, and in reducing saturated fatty acid levels in breast muscle.