Application of an eco-feed produced by culturing Aurantiochytrium sp. strain L3W using solid food waste to produce poultry products enriched with ω-3 fatty acids

Dried biomass of thraustochytrids is useful to enrich ω-3 fatty acids (ω3FAs) in poultry products; however, artificial media has been used for the biomass production. In this study, a thraustochytrid, Aurantiochytrium sp. strain L3W, was cultivated using a mixture of rice vinegar residue and Hiroshimana old pickles to produce a functional eco-feed containing ω-3FAs for poultry. The undried biomass mixture, containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), was fed with commercial feed to 300-day-old White Leghorn laying hens for 28 d. The diet with the added biomass mixture significantly increased the DHA and EPA contents of the egg yolks from 274–447 to 602–905 mg/100 g and from 5.29–9.98 to 8.38–13.6 mg /100 g, respectively, with transfer efficiencies of 30% and 8%, respectively. Although no EPA was detected in the thigh and breast meat after the feeding experiment, the DHA content in the breast and thigh meat increased to 26 and 35 mg/100 g, respectively. These results have provided evidence that the biomass mixture consisting of the raw biomass of strain L3W and the remaining food waste can be used as a functional eco-feed to enrich these two ω-3 fatty acids in poultry products such as eggs and breast meat.