Dietary flavor modifies oil preferences in the chicken

The effect of dietary flavor on the preference for diets containing 20% medium-chain triacylglycerol (MCT) or long-chain triacylglycerol (LCT) was investigated in the chicken. A series of experiments using birds pre-fed with a flavored basal pre-feeding diet or an MCT diet was done to identify the role of dietary flavor on the food selection of flavored LCT (FLCT) or flavored MCT (FMCT) in chickens. The basal pre-feeding diet contained 3% LCT and the MCT pre-feeding diet contained 20% MCT. Using FLCT or FMCT, the birds showed a significant preference for non-flavored diets over flavored diets. The pre-feeding diet changed the pattern of diet preference, which implies that chickens can be trained to prefer a diet which was disliked over another. It is concluded that flavor controls the preference of diets containing MCT or LCT in chickens.