Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the quality and profile of fatty acids in the thigh and drumstick of broiler chickens, from one to 42 days of age. In the experiment 1, a complete randomized design, with four diets, eight replicates and 49 birds per experimental unit was used. In the starter phase, birds received diets formulated with soybean oil, cottonseed oil, poultry offal oil, or beef tallow, and during the growing phase, each one of these diets was dismembered in two diets, so one group of birds kept receiving the same oil source used in the previous phase while the other group started to receive soybean oil in the diet. In this phase, it was used a complete random design with seven diets, each one with four replicates. There was an effect of the diets on the profile of the fatty acids in the thigh. In the experiment 2, during the starter phase (from 1 to 21 days of age), the birds received the same diets with 3% of soybean oil, and in the growing phase (from 22 to 42 days of age), they received five diets each one with a lipidic source (soybean, canola oil, sunflower oil, poultry offal oil and beef tallow) evaluated in a complete random design with six replicates and 30 birds per experimental unity. It was not observed effect of the diets on pH and shear force. However, diets influence the profile of fatty acids in the thigh because accordingly to the results, the increment of the rations with oil sources promote changes on lipid composition of the broiler thigh meat, so the best profile of fatty acids is observed in the meat of animals fed ration containing soybean oil.
fatty acids; lipid profile; meat quality of broilers
