Docosahexaenoic acid enrichment of layer hen tissues and eggs through dietary supplementation with heterotrophically grown Aurantiochytrium limacinum

Omega-3 fatty acids play an important role in various aspects of human health, but many people do not consume them in sufficient quantities, resulting in deficiencies in some populations. The enrichment of commonly consumed foods with omega-3 fatty acids has been proposed to address this deficit. Feeding omega-3-rich ingredients to animals can enrich their products, increasing the consumption by the population without requiring any major dietary changes. Eggs can be enriched to a high degree, and currently, omega-3-enriched eggs are widely available. Oftentimes, a missed opportunity for the poultry industry is in valorizing the spent hen. In this short-term study, a docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich protist was fed to layer hens at three different inclusion levels to determine the degree of enrichment observed in the eggs and concomitantly in the breast, thigh, liver, and kidney. The addition of the protist ingredient had no negative impact on the bird health or performance. Significant increases in egg DHA concentration were observed, with 60, 164, 259, and 410 mg DHA/100g of egg collected from birds supplemented with the DHA-rich protist at a rate of 0, 0.5, 1, and 2.5% of the diet, respectively. This enrichment could increase the value of spent hen meat when used in the production of human and companion animal food as DHA-enriched products can be sold for a premium. Moreover, this enriched spent hen meat could potentially be used as a partial substitute for less-sustainable sources of dietary omega-3 including fish meal and fish oil.