Effect of extruded linseed and algae padina pavonica's dietary supplementation on meat fatty acid profile in fattening rabbits

International audience

Inglés. Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) in livestock animals is an effective strategy to produce functional foods. This study aimed at investigating the effect of dietary supplementation with extruded linseed alone and in combination with the algae Padina pavonica, which has boosting effect on DHA (22:6 n-3) assimilation, on the fatty acid profile of fattening rabbit meat. At weaning age (35 days), 120 rabbits were divided into three groups according to the experimental diet (n=40 rabbits/diet) provided ad libitum until the slaughter age (82 days): commercial control diet (CNT), CNT diet supplemented with 5% extruded linseed (L5%), and CNT diet supplemented with 3.5% extruded linseed and 0.2% Padina pavonica algae (LPP). At slaughter, the Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) from 20 randomly selected carcasses per group (n=60) was collected, and proximate chemical composition and fatty acid profile analyses were performed. No significant differences were found in the carcass characteristics and proximate composition of LTL. Compared to the CNT group, both L5% and LPP LTL showed higher concentrations of n3 PUFAs, with better n6/n3 ratio, and improved atherogenic and thrombogenic indexes. LPP showed higher n-3 very long chian fatty acids, specifically DHA compared to the L5% group. Results from the L5% group were consistent with the literature, whereas there are no previous studies on the benefits of combining extruded linseed and algae. Therefore, these findings show, for the first time, the benefits on the rabbit meat quality of combining extruded linseed and the algae Padina pavonica in the diet of fattening rabbits.