Efficacy of 1,3-diacylglycerol as a fat emulsifier in low-density diet for broilers.

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of dietary supplementation of 1,3-diacylglycerol (DAG) as an emulsifier in a low-density diet on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics, and meat quality in broilers. A total of 480 1-day-old male 308 Ross broiler chicks were randomly allocated into 1 of the following 5 treatments: Control, fed a basal diet (CON), basal diet minus 100 kcal ME diet (LE), T1 (LE + 0.075% 1,3-DAG), T2 (LE + 0.10% 1,3-DAG), and T3 (LE + 0.15% 1,3-DAG).The supplementation of low energy diet to broilers reduced (P < 0.05) feed intake compared to CON diet during wk 1 of the experiment. The supplementation of LE diet with 0.075, 0.10, and 0.15% 1,3-DAG linearly increased (P = 0.09) body weight gain (BWG) and decreased (P = 0.08) feed intake (FI) during wk 1. During wk 2 to 3 and overall (0 to 5 wk), there was linear increase (P < 0.05) in BWG and decrease in feed conversion ratio (FCR) in LE diet supplemented with graded levels of emulsifier. The LE diet reduced (P < 0.05) dry matter (DM) and energy digestibility (P = 0.07) compared with CON diet. Supplementing energy-reduced diet with different levels of 1,3-DAG linearly increased (P < 0.05) DM, and energy digestibility, but no significant differences were observed in blood profiles, meat quality (except drip loss) of broilers.In conclusion, DAG positively affected growth performances and nutrient digestibility in broilers. However, meat quality and serum profiles were unaffected in broilers fed an energy-reduced diet supplemented with DAG.