Fats and oils possess the highest caloric density of all known nutrients. The ever increasing energy costs, has increased the focus on maximizing the use of supplemental fats/oils. This has become necessary to meet the requirements of the high performing modern bird.
Various studies have been conducted to understand the principles of fat digestion and absorption in poultry. The digestion and absorption of fats is a complex process and involves a sequence of physicochemical events requiring breakdown of fat droplets, emulsification, lipolysis and micelle formation. Supplemental fats are one of the most difficult ingredients to evaluate in terms of available energy. Considering important variables which influence the energy content of fats, which include age of the birds, degree of fat saturation, chain length, free fatty acids and fat inclusion levels in feed we can safely propose the following -
