Arachidonic acid and long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in chicken and turkey meat in relation to dietary fat sources

Quantitatively and qualitatively most important metabolites of the indispensable polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the n-6 (linoleic acid, LA) and the n-3 (α-linolenic acid, LNA) series are arachidonic acid (AA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), respectively. In the present experiment, AA content, long-chain n-3 PUFA equivalent (LCE; calculated as 0.15 LNA + EPA + DHA), and PUFA n-6/PUFA n-3 ratio was determined in breast meat (BM) and thigh meat (TM) within four sets of chickens and five sets of turkeys, respectively, fed either the commercial diet or the diets with manipulated PUFAn-3 and PUFA n-6 content. AA content was within the range of 25 mg/100 g (BM of turkeys fed the diet with fish oil, FO) to 138 mg/100 g (TM of chickens fed restrictively the diet based on maize to the age of 90 days). LCE was in the range 16 mg/100 g (BM of turkeys fed a commercial feed mixture) to 260 mg/100 g (TM of turkeys fed the diet with FO). Both BM and TM of turkeys fed the diet with either linseed oil or FO met the recommended value of the PUFA n-3/PUFA n-3 ratio (lower than 4). AA content in meat increased significantly (P<0.001) with increasing dietary LA both in all chicken and turkey tissues, which is contrary to the suggested strong metabolic regulation of the AA formation. When all analysed meat samples were taken as a one set, both AA percentage and EPA+DHA percentage in the tissue (Y, %) decreased (P<0.001) with increasing fat content in the tissue (X, %) according to the equation Y = 5.1 – 0.59X (R = 0.38) and Y = 4.7 – 0.70X (R = 0.33), respectively, and AA content decreased linearly (P<0.01) with increasing live weight reached at the slaughter age.