INFLUENCE OF SUPPLEMENTAL DIETARY-FAT ON CHANGES IN VITAMIN-E CONCENTRATION IN LIVERS OF POULTS

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of supplemental dietary fat on alpha-tocopherol (TOC) stored in the livers of young t urkeys during the first 21 d after hatching. The four dietary treatmen ts were obtained by supplementing a corn-soybean meal diet with 8% suc rose (SUC), 8% animal-vegetable fat (AVF), 8% tallow (TAL), or 8% coco nut oil (COG). All diets were supplemented with 12 IU of dl-alpha-toco pheryl acetate (vitamin E)/kg of diet. Body weight at 21 d of age was not affected by dietary fat,whereas feed efficiency was improved (P < .05) by added fat, irrespective of source. Liver TOC (micrograms per g ram of liver and micrograms per total liver weight) decreased markedly between 1 to 14 d of age, irrespective of fat source. Average TOC con centration in liver was 78.9 mu g/g at 1 d, but was only .5 mu g/g at 14 d. Between 14 and 21 d of age, total liver TOC increased slightly i n all treatment groups. No diet effect was observed on the liver TOC c oncentration until 21 d of age. At this time, poults fed TAL had less (P < .05) TOC in liver than those fed COC and AVF. The data show that neither the presence of supplemental dietary fat nor fat source change d the pattern of marked decrease in liver TOC during the first 14 d af ter hatching.