Integrated metabolomics and microbiome analysis reveal blended oil diet improves meat quality of broiler chickens by modulating flavor and gut microbiota

This study was to evaluate the effects of different dietary oils in chicken diets on meat quality, lipid metabolites, the composition of volatile compounds, and gut microbiota. Nine hundred female 817 crossbred broilers at one day old with an average body weight of 43. 56 ± 0. 03 g were randomly divided into five treatments, each consisting of 6 replicates of 30 birds. The control group received soybean oil (SO) ; other groups received diets supplemented with rice bran oil (RO), lard (LO), poultry fat (PO), and blended oil (BO), respectively. All diets were formulated as isoenergic and isonitrogenous. Compared with SO, RO decreased ADG and 42 d BW (P < 0. 05). Compared with the RO, BO increased ADG and 42 d BW and decreased FCR (P < 0. 05). Compared with SO, BO increased 24 h a* value and reduced the malondialdehyde (P < 0. 05), and further improved drip loss of breast muscle. The proportions of C18: 0 and saturated fatty acid were the highest in LO, and the proportions of C16: 1, C18: 1, and monounsaturated fatty acids were the highest in BO. The content of C18: 2, C18: 3, and polyunsaturated fatty acids were the highest in SO. The contents of glyceryl triglycerides and total esters in BO were significantly higher than those in the SO and LO group (P < 0. 05). There was a substantial increment in the relative abundance of PPARα, ACOX1 and CPT1A transcripts in breast of chickens fed BO (P < 0. 05). Further, dietary BO increased the relative cecal abundance of Firmicutes phylum, Ruminococcusₜorques and ChristensenellaceaeR-7 genera, and decreased that of Campylobacterota, Proteobacteria, and Phascolarctobacterium (P < 0. 05). Genera gLactobacillus and ChristensenellaceaeR-7 may mainly be involved in the formation of volatile flavor compounds in breast muscle. In conclusion, dietary BO improved the flavor of chickens by increasing the concentration of triglycerides and volatile flavor compounds, improving gut microbiota structure, and suppressing lipid oxidation. The potential positive effects of BO may be associated with the regulation of lipid metabolism.