Influence of dietary fat source and copper supplementation on broiler performance, fatty acid profile of meat and depot fat, and on cholesterol content in meat.

1. Three hundred and twenty d-old chickens were fed on a wheat/maize-soyabean meal diet supplemented with (i) 50 g/kg lard, (ii) 25 g/kg lard and 25 g/kg rapeseed oil, (iii) 50 g/kg rapeseed oil, and (iv) 50 g/kg rapeseed oil and 200 mg copper per kg as copper sulphate pentahydrate. 2. Final weights at 39 d of age in chickens receiving rapeseed oil were lower by 9% than in those fed on the diet containing only lard (P<0.05). The fatty acids profiles of lipids extracted from the tissues of 10 chickens per group reflected those of the diets. 3. The polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content of breast muscles and abdominal fat (expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids) was increased and the ratio of n-6:n-3 fatty acids was decreased by the substitution of lard by rapeseed oil (P<0.001). These changes were more pronounced for the adipose tissue than for breast muscles. 4. Copper sulphate supplementation increased the final body weight of chickens by 4.3% (P<0.05), reduced the saturated fatty acid (SFA) proportion (P<0.05) in abdominal fat and increased the PUFA:SFA ratio (P<0.05). The magnitude of improvement, however, was small. 5. The substitution of rapeseed oil for lard decreased the concentration of cholesterol in breast muscles by 13%. Copper supplementation further reduced the cholesterol content by 25%. Both effects were significant (P<0.001).