FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION AND CHOLESTEROL CO NTENT OF THE MUSCULUS LONGISSIMUS-DORSI OF MEAT RABBITS FED OIL FROM COCONUT, RAPE OR SOYBEAN

The effect of a standard diet without oil supplement (control) or with 7 % coconut, rape or soybean oil instead of corn starch on the fatty acid composition and the cholesterol content of the m. longissimus dor si of meat rabbits was investigated. After a 53 day growth trial 4 x 6 individually kept and ad lib. fed male New Zealand White rabbits (ini tial weight 600 g) were slaughtered at 12 weeks with an average live w eight of 2.6 kg. The fatty acid composition of the diets was reflected in the fatty acid composition of the meat lipids. Saturated fatty aci ds such as lauric and myristic acid increased considerably in the grou p fed coconut oil. Rape oil improved the content of oleic, linoleic an d linolenic acid significantly. The treatment with soybean oil led to an increased linoleic acid content from 14 to 42.4 %. Furthermore lino lenic acid increased significantly. The addition of soybean oil to the diet improved linoleic content of rabbit meat from 86 (basal diet) to 699 mg/100 g fresh matter (FM). Linolenic acid increased from 34 to 1 02 mg (rape oil) and 34 to 113 mg/100 g FM (soybean oil). The suppleme ntation of the various oils raised the fat content of the m. longissim us dorsi from 1.6 % to on average 2.2 %. The cholesterol content was f ound to be 57.5 mg/100 g FM on average and was not influenced by oil s upplementation.