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Influence of Dietary Oils on Reproduction in the Hen

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Poultry Research Branch, Animal Husbandry Research Division, ARS, Beltsville, Maryland

A study was conducted to determine the effect of safflower or menhaden oil on the reproductive performance of essential fatty acid-deficient hens. Single Comb White Leghorn pullets were reared from hatching with an essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient diet. At 32 weeks of age the pullets were distributed into 6 groups of 15 birds each. Groups 1 through 4 received safflower oil (calculated to supply zero, 20, 80, and 1600 mg of linoleic acid (18:2)/hen/day, respectively. Groups 5 and 6 received menhaden oil calculated to supply 20 and 80 mg of 18:2/hen/day, respectively. Increasing the levels of dietary 18:2 supplied by safflower oil had a significant stimulatory effect on the reproductive characteristics of the EFA-deficient hen. Dietary menhaden oil fed to EFA-deficient hens promoted a significant increase in egg production, hatchability, and, to some extent, egg size that could not be assigned to its 18:2 content. The data indicated that the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) present in menhaden oil were responsible for this stimulation. The amount of 20:3 in the tissues of the EFA-deficient hen was found to bear a definite negative relationship to the expression of the reproductive characteristics of the chicken. The results of this study suggested that the PUFA of menhaden oil depressed the synthesis of 20:3 and may have also substituted, at least in part, for 18:2 or 20:4, or both.