Effect of dietary fatty acids on humoral immune response of turkeys

1. This study examined the effect of increasing amounts of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids on the fatty acid composition in serum and antibody production following a standard vaccination programme in growing turkeys. Turkey poults were fed on 5 diets containing 75g/kg added fat made up of different proportions of palm and soyabean oils, and were vaccinated against Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis and necrotic enteritis according to a standard vaccination programme. Blood samples were taken before and one week after each vaccination. 2. Fatty acid composition in serum reflected the composition of the diets although arachidonic acid concentration was not changed by dietary fatty acid content. Growth, erythrocyte and leukocyte parameters were not affected by the respective diets. 3. Specific antibody production was related quadratically to serum linoleic and total n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations. No correlation was found with linolenic or arachidonic acids. 4. It is concluded that dietary fatty acid composition can augment the specific anti-vaccine immune response in turkey poults.