Camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) as Feedstuffs in Meat Type Poultry Diet: A Source of Protein and n-3 Fatty Acids

Abstract

Camelina seed or seed processing derivatives, i.e., cake, are cheap alternative protein feed ingredients for meat type poultry. Camelina is an oilseed crop containing 36.8% oil in seeds, while in the cake the oil content accounts for 6.4–22.7%. If compared with other Brassicaceae family plants, camelina is distinguished by a unique fatty acid composition, because the content of α-linolenic fatty acid (C18:3n-3; ALA) varies from 25.9 to 36.7% of total fatty acids. The total tocopherol content in camelina oil and cake are, respectively, 751–900 and 687 mg/kg. Addition of camelina to poultry nutrition increases the amount of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in poultry meat and liver. The content of ALA in chicken muscles increases by 1.3–4.4, 2.4–2.9 and 2.3–7.2 times after supplementing chicken diets with, respectively, camelina cake (8–24%), seed (10%), and oil (2.5–6.9%) in comparison with the control group. Camelina cake (5–25%), seed (10%) and oil (2.5–4%) inclusion in chicken diets results in 1.5–3.9 times higher total n-3 PUFA content in muscles and liver. Meanwhile, supplementation of chicken diets with camelina oil (4–6.9%), seed (5–10%) and cake (5–25%) results in, respectively, a 1.8–8.4, 1.6–1.9 and 1.3–2.9 times lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio in muscles, and 3.29 times lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio in the liver. After inclusion of different amounts of camelina cake in chicken diets, a healthy for human nutrition n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio from 1.6 to 2.9 was found in chicken muscles.