INCLUSION OF COCONUT OIL IN DIETS FOR TURKEY BREEDERS AND ITS EFFECTSON EMBRYONIC YOLK AND LIVER FATTY-ACIDS

Turkey hens were fed either a standard breeder diet (CON, myristic aci d, C-14.0, 1.1%; palmitic acid, C-16:0, 16.8%; oleic acid, C-18:1, 23% ; Linoleic acid, C-18:2, 48.7%) or a diet containing 5% coconut oil (C OCO) enriched with medium chain fatty acids (MCFA; lauric acid, C-12:0 , 22.6%; C-14:0, 10.8%; C-16:0, 12.5%; C-18:1, 14.8%; C-18:2, 24.6%). After 10 d on the diets, fresh eggs were collected for yolk Lipid and fatty acid (FA) determination. An additional 60 to 95 eggs were incuba ted and the FA profiles of the neutral lipid (NL) and phospholipid (PL ) fractions of yolk sac and liver lipids were determined. The NL fract ion of the yolk sac from CON eggs contained less C-12:0 (0 vs 0.49%) a nd C-14:0 (0.7 vs 4.6%) and more C-18:1 (41.3 vs 37.5%). The PL fracti on of the yolk sac from both treatments contained < 1% C-14:0, and the re was less than a 2% difference between treatments in other FA concen trations. The hepatic NL fraction from both treatments contained < 1% C-14:0 and only C-18.1 showed > 1% differences between treatments (Con trol = 59.9%; COCO = 56.62%). There were no dietary effects on the FA profile of hepatic PL. The presence of only minimal quantities of MCFA in hepatic NL and PL suggests that absorbed yolk sac MCFA are extensi vely metabolized during embryonic development.