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Species‐specific differences in the fatty acid profiles of the lipids of the yolk and of the liver of the chick
Author(s) -
Surai Peter F,
Speake Brian K,
Noble Raymond C,
Mezes Miklos
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(199904)79:5<733::aid-jsfa244>3.0.co;2-m
Subject(s) - yolk , polyunsaturated fatty acid , docosahexaenoic acid , arachidonic acid , fatty acid , linoleic acid , biology , goose , phospholipid , food science , biochemistry , enzyme , ecology , membrane
Differences between four avian species of commercial importance(chicken, turkey, duck and goose), in terms of therelationship between the dietary fatty acids supplied in the diet ofthe layers and the fatty acid composition of the egg yolk lipids,were investigated. Laying hens of the four species were provided withdiets with very similar fatty acid compositions. The polyunsaturatedfatty acid content of the diets consisted of linoleic andα‐linolenic acids at approximately 50% and6% (w/w of total fatty acids), respectively, forall four species. In spite of the very similar dietary provision offatty acids, the subsequent fatty acid profiles of the yolk lipidsdiffered markedly between the four species. In particular, theproportion of docosahexaenoic acid in the total lipid of the yolk wasthree to five times greater for the chicken compared to the otherthree species. By contrast, the proportion of arachidonic acid intotal yolk lipid was approximately two times greater for the gooseand duck than for the chicken and turkey. Thus the chicken was moreefficient at incorporating long‐chain (C 22 ) fatty acid of the n ‐3 series into yolklipid whereas the duck and goose preferentially incorporated C 20 fatty acid of the n ‐6 series. The turkey eggscontained a similar proportion of arachidonic acid but lessdocosahexaenoic acid than the chicken eggs. The main differencesbetween the avian species in terms of the yolk levels of C 20 –22 polyunsaturated fatty acids were in thephospholipid fraction since only low levels of these fatty acids werepresent in the triacylglycerol fraction. The relative proportions ofdocosahexaenoic acid in the phospholipid and triacylglycerolfractions of the livers of the newly‐hatched chicks of thefour species reflected the differences displayed by the yolks. Theproportions of arachidonic acid in these liver lipid fractions,however, did not reflect the species differences in yolk lipidcomposition. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry