Effect of supplemental dietary fat on the reproductive performance of hens of turkey and Japanese quail

Four experiments were conducted on hens of turkey and Japanese quail. In Experiment I, turkey hens were fed diets containing either 0% added fat, 3.5% animal-vegetable fat blend (AV) or 3.5% dry fat product (DF). In Experiment II with turkey hens, 2 holding diets and 4 breeder diets were investigated. The holding diets contained either 0% added fat or 5% of AV. The breeder diets contained 0% added fat of 5% of one of the following: AV, corn oil (CO) or olive oil (OO). In Experiment III with Japanese quail, 3 pre-breeder (PB) and 3 breeder diets (BD) were studied. They contained either 0, 3.5 or 7% added AV. In Experiment IV with Japanese quail, all diets contained 97% of a semi-purified basal diet and 3% of one of the following: corn starch (CS), corn oil (CO), palmitic acid (PA), oleic acid (OA), linoleic acid (LA) or linolenic acid (LN). The fatty acid composition of plasma and yolk lipids of both turkeys and quail was influenced by the fatty acid composition of the diets. Quail fed a CO diet deposited more linoleic acid in the egg than did those on a LA diet. (Abstract shortened by UMI.