Dietary Supplementation of Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) Seed Enhances Muscle n-3 Fatty Acids in Broiler Chickens

The influence of dietary Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) seed meal (TCSM) on fatty acids, productivity parameters, and physicochemical properties of breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens are assessed. A total of 180, 28-d-old Arbor acre broiler chickens are randomly assigned to dietary treatments containing 0% (control), 2.5%, and 5% w/w TCSM, fed for 28 d, and euthanized. Dietary TCSM reduces (p < 0.05) feed intake, body weight gain (BWG), carcass weight, and abdominal fat. Diet does not affect feed efficiency and hematological parameters. The control birds have higher (p < 0.05) serum total cholesterol and triglycerides than do the supplemented birds. Diet has no effect on pH, water holding capacity, carbonyl and malondialdehyde contents, and organoleptic properties of breast and thigh muscles. The 5% TCSM has higher redness in breast muscle than do other treatments. Dietary TCSM improves (p < 0.05) the concentration of C18:3n-3 (4.80-8.76% vs 1.56%), C20:5n-3 (0.54-0.79% vs 0.39%), C22:5n-3 (0.64-0.89% vs 0.18%), and C22:6n-3 (0.75-0.97% vs 0.19%), and reduces (p < 0.05) the fat content (2.15-2.45% vs 3.15%) in breast and thigh muscles. Dietary TCSM enhances muscle n-3 fatty acids without instigating oxidative deterioration, but reduces BWG in broiler chickens. Practical Application: Albeit that broiler meat is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), its omega 6 (n-6)/omega 3 (n-3) is >4. Elevated n-6/n-3 could have adverse effect on human physiology thereby promoting the pathogenesis of certain diseases. This heightens the need to enhance the n-3 PUFA content of broiler meat. Dietary TCSM induced up to a fourfold increase in n-3 PUFA content of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. Moreover, dietary TCSM induced up to a tenfold decrease in the n-6/n-3 of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. This finding assumes great significance because the health concerns regarding dietary fat are the foremost factors responsible for the bad image suffered by meat. These results provide insights on the potential of TCSM to improve the nutritional quality without compromising the oxidative shelf life, organoleptic traits, and physicochemical properties of broiler meat.