Modification of diet fatty acid composition change the fatty acid composition of rabbit meat

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of linseed oil supplementation on the performance and fatty acid composition of rabbit leg muscle and adipose tissue. Two experiments were done. First experiment: twelvemale SIKA rabbits, divided in two groups, control (n = 4commercial diet) and the linseed (n = 8commercial diet with 9% of linseed oil sprayed onto the pellets). Second experiment: twenty-four (12 male and 12 female) SIKArabbits, divided in two groups, palm fat (n = 126% palm fat), linseed oil (n = 126% linseed oil). Body mass gain, feed intake and feed efficiency were recorded. The fatty acid composition of leg intramuscular lipids and adipose tissue was determined by gas chromatography and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in plasma and leg muscle was measured. The results clearly show that the fatty acid composition of leg muscle and adipose tissue depends on the diet fatty acid composition. Linseed oil in both experiments reduced the proportion of saturated fatty acid (SFA) and increased the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in both tissues. Linseed oil also reduced the n-6/n-3 PUFA ration to more favorable (8.22 to 1.31 and 6.82 to 1.81 in first and second experiment, respectively). However, linseed oil addition leads to significantly higher MDA concentration in leg muscle