3. Feeding Canola Oil to Broilers and Turkeys
Diets supplemented with canola oil have shown a variety
of benefits for broilers and turkey poults, as indicated below
(Table 10).
| Table 10. Results from feeding trials involving different levels of canola oil or canola oil byproducts. | ||
| Reference | Treatment | Value or Effect |
| Leeson & Atteh 1995 {335} | Supplementation of turkey poult (0 - 6 weeks) diets with 5% tallow (T), corn oil (CO), soybean oil (SBO), animal-vegetable blend oil (AV) or canola oil (CA). | CA, CO and SBO diets had improved fat retention (P<0.01) and numerically higher ME than T or AV diets. |
| Hulan 1984 {542} | Poultry grease (PG), T, or pork lard (PL) supplementation of broiler starter and finisher (2 and 3% fat, respectively) versus substituting CA for 1/2 the PG, T or PL in each diet. | Improved feed conversion (P<0.01) and female live weight at 49 days (P<0.05) with CA-supplemented diets. |
| Thacker 1994 {337} | Tallow, water degummed CA (WD), super degummed CA (SD), and an acidulated fatty acid CA (AFA) byproduct were used to supplement (8%) broiler chick diets (0-21 d) . | AFA and T supported equivalent performance; SD improved gain; WD improved gain , FC (P<0.05). |
4. Feeding Canola Oil to Layers
Incorporation of omega-3 fatty acids into eggs through
dietary use of canola oil appears promising. The level of docosahexaenoic
acid (C22:6n-3) was significantly elevated in the eggs of hens
consuming diets supplemented with 7% canola oil (Farrell, 1994
{356}).
5. Specialty Applications of Canola Oil
Application of canola oil to litter reduced the incidence of lung lesions in heavy turkeys by over 50% (6.0 vs. 13.7%). Lung lesions appear to have a negative correlation with growth rate in turkeys (Feddes et al. 1995 {319}).
Acidulated canola soapstock was a concentrated source of xanthophyll (832 mg kg -1 (n=1); Blair and March 1989 {500}), and has potential for use in the production of a poultry pigment supplement.
German workers (Roth et al. 1993 {376}) indicated that a canola oil refining byproduct containing 2/3 free fatty acids did not affect growth, but produced undesirable carcass characteristics at 41 g kg -1 dietary inclusion.
Although high erucic acid canola oil is not commonly
used within the feed industry, blending it with lard (1:1 ratio,
80 g kg-1 diet) exerted a syntergistic effect upon
the growth rate of SCWL chicks (0 - 4 weeks) compared to either
source fed individually (Crick et al. 1988 {509}).