PSX-A-14 - Late-Breaking: Lipid digestibility of a rumen-protected fatty acids product

The development of a rumen-protected fatty acid (RPFA) product can make the product undigestible in the small intestine. The objective of this experiment was to measure the digestibility of two prototype feeds RPFA enriched with omega-3. Twenty-four Leghorn cockerels (85-week-old, 2.5 kg body weight) were individually caged and assigned randomly to 4 treatments, with 6 cockerels per treatment. Cockerels were fasted for 24 h and after this period the cockerels were tube fed 40 g of 4 different treatment diets: T1) 80% corn and 20% crystalline cellulose, T2) 80% corn and 20% unprotected RPFA, T3) 80% corn and 20% RPFA treated for 3 hours, and T4) 80% corn and 20% RPFA treated for 6 hours. The RUPFA ingredients were 55% modified soy lecithin, 40% fish oil, 5% dextrose. The protection treatment of RPFA is described in the pending patent (US 2020/0197346 A1). After 48 h all the excreta from the cockerels was collected and dried in an oven at 60 °C for 72 h. Dried excreta samples and diets were analyzed for total lipids. Data were analyzed as complete randomized block design using linear mixed model. Lipid digestibility was different for treatments (P < 0.01). Lipid digestibility was lesser (P < 0.01) for T1 compared with T2, T3, and T4 (87.6% vs 96.8%, 95.5%, and 96.4% (± 0.34) for T1, T2, T3, and T4 respectively). There were no differences (P > 0.1) between T2, T3, and T4. We conclude from these data that the processing of the RPFA product does not change the digestibility of the lipids in non-ruminants.