Effects of Dietary Addition of Linseed Oil on the Content of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Egg Yolk of Gallus domestiaus

Abstract

In order to study the effect of dietary supplement of linseed oil on polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in egg yolk of Gallus domestiaus, total 160 healthy Gallus domestiaus of 26-week old were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups, each of which included 40 chickens fed outdoors with an area of 63 m2 and free food and drinking water. The control group (CK) was fed the basic diet, and the experimental group was added 1, 3 and 5% of linseed oil in the fundamentals of diet (experimental group 1, 2 and 3, abbreviated as P1, P2, P3), respectively. The content of PUFA and the value of n-6 PUFA and n-3 PUFA in egg yolk were determined by gas chromatography with 24 eggs randomly selected in each group after 10th, 25th and 40th days of the commence of the experiment. We found that the levels of α-linolenic acid (C18:3n3, ALA) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6n3, DHA) in egg yolk were clearly higher than the CK when 3% linseed oil or 5% linseed oil were added in the diet during the three experiment periods, in which the contents of linoleic Acid (18:2n6c, LA) and arachidonic acid (C20:4n6, ARA) in egg yolk differ little between P1, P2 and P3 and the CK while the value of n-6 PUFA and n-3 PUFA in egg yolk of the P2 and P3 groups decreased significantly. The comprehensive comparisons suggested that the content of C18:3n3 and C22:6n3 in egg yolk could be clearly increased in the P2 while the value of n-6 PUFA and n-3 PUFA decreased. This study provides theoretical basis for the production of functional eggs enriched with C22:6n3 and C18:3n3.