The Ratio between Arachidonic Acid 20:4 (-6) and Docosahexaenoic Acid 22:6 (-3) Influences the Growth and Plasma Fatty Acid Profile in Rabbits after Weaning

We studied the effect of dietary fatty acids on plasma fatty acid profile as well as growth performance (total food consumption TFC, weight gain WG, and feed efficiency FE) in rabbits fed three different diets varying in their omega-3 (-3) and omega-6 (-6) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) concentrations for four weeks after weaning. The first diet was the control negative diet (CND) with no LCPUFA; the second was fortified with egg yolk (EY) as a source of Arachidonic Acid AA 20:4 (-6) and Docosahexaenoic Acid DHA 22:6 (-3) with the ratio of (1:0.5) respectively; and the third was fortified with egg yolk and fish oil (EY + FO) as sources of AA and DHA with the ratio of (1:1) respectively, breast feeding infant rabbits were used as a control positive diet (CPD) group (breast milk contains LCPUFA 20:4 and 22:6). There was a significant increase (p0.05) in WG thereby FE in the (EY + FO) group in comparison with (EY) and (CND) groups, while no significant differences (p0.05) were obtained in (TFC) between the fed groups. However, there was a significant increase in PUFA particularly Oleic Acid OA 18:1(-9) in (EY + FO) group compared to (EY) and (CND) groups, and significant increase in OA, Linoleic Acid LA 18:2 (-6) and Alpha Linolenic Acid ALA 18:3 (-3) in plasma of the (CPD) group compared to the fed groups. Four weeks after weaning, there was slightly increase in LCPUFA particularly AA in plasma of the (EY + FO) group in comparison with (EY) and (CND) groups, and DHA in plasma of the (EY) group in comparison with (EY + FO) and (CND) groups. Despite this insignificant increase in the level of AA and DHA which was observed in the fed groups in this study due to fortification with the suggested ratios; therefore, our study recommends more research in this area taking into account the ratio between AA and DHA.KACS