There are various health benefits associated with people consuming sufficient quantities of omega-3 fatty acids, with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), in particular, impacting cardiovascular and mental health as well as influencing the immune response. Dietary deficiencies of omega-3 are common globally, and an emerging strategy to compensate is the enrichment of frequently consumed foods. Chicken meat represents a good target for enrichment as the fatty acid concentrations of the edible tissues can be easily altered by including omega-3–rich ingredients in their diets. However, the optimum duration of supplementation remains unclear. In this study, we describe the results of 2 studies in which the DHA-rich protist, Aurantiochytrium limacinum was fed to broilers at a rate of 0, 0.5, 1, and 2% of the diet. In the first study, the birds were supplemented for their whole lives (42 D), whereas in the second study, the birds were supplemented for the final 21-D fattening period only. Productivity parameters were affected in the whole-life study but were unaffected in the fattening-period study. In both studies, higher A. limacinum inclusion rates led to higher levels of DHA enrichment. Supplementation at a rate of 1% resulted in 49 and 97 mg DHA/100 g of breast or thigh meat, respectively, whereas 2% inclusion rate resulted in 97 and 156 mg DHA/100 g of breast or thigh meat, respectively, enough DHA to be considered a source of omega-3 in the European Union and Canada.

人们摄入足够量的欧米伽3脂肪酸（二十二碳六烯酸（DHA））会带来各种健康益处，特别是会影响心血管和精神健康并影响免疫反应。Omega-3饮食缺乏症在全球范围内很普遍，一种新兴的补偿策略是丰富经常食用的食物。鸡肉代表了丰富的营养目标，因为在饮食中加入富含omega-3的成分可以很容易地改变食用组织的脂肪酸浓度。然而，最佳补充时间仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们描述了2项研究的结果，其中富含DHA的生物，金黄色葡萄球菌以日粮的0％，0.5％，1％和2％的比率喂饲肉鸡。在第一个研究中，对鸟类进行了整个生命的补充（42天），而在第二个研究中，对鸟类进行了最后21天的育肥阶段的补充。生产率参数在整个寿命研究中均受到影响，但在育肥期研究中不受影响。在两项研究中，较高的紫草曲霉包涵率导致DHA富集水平更高。1％的添加量分别导致49和97 mg DHA / 100 g胸肉或大腿肉，而2％的添加率分别导致97和156 mg DHA / 100 g胸肉或大腿肉，足够的DHA被认为是欧盟和加拿大的omega-3来源。