An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of using different vegetab
le oil sources in diets on performance of broilers, meat quality parameters
, fatty acid (FA) composition of tissues and sensoric characteristics of br
oiler meat. A diet enriched with 8% of vegetable fat was fed to the birds t
he whale growth period of 35 days. As fats were used: soybean oil (SO), rap
eseed oil (RO), sunflower oil (SFO) and linseed oil (LO). Texture, water ho
lding capacity and cooking losses of meat were determined as quality parame
ters. The FA profiles of abdominal fat and thigh samples were analysed. TBA
R's were determined in the abdominal fat and in the breast muscle. A sensor
ic evaluation of breast and thigh muscles was done.
Meat quality parameters almost did not show any differences between treatme
nts, although juiciness of samples from the RO treatment was lower in compa
rison to the other treatments. TBArs values were higher in LO and SO fresh
abdominal fat and in 12-months stored breast samples in comparison to fresh
samples of breast muscle.
The highest omega-3 PUFA level was observed in LO samples for both kind of
tissues. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5 omega 3), docosapentaenoic acid
(DPA, C22:5 omega 3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 omega 3) content
of the LO samples was higher, due to a possible conversion from its precurs
or, linolenic acid (LNA, C18:3 omega 3), which attributed to more than 50%
of total fatty acids in that dietary treatment. In thighs, higher levels of
omega-3 fatty acids were determined than in the abdominal fat samples. Thi
ghs from SFO treatment showed the highest content of omega-6 FAs. The predo
minant omega 6 long chain PUFA was the arachidonic acid (Aa, C20:w6), due t
o the high amount of its precursor linoleic acid (LA, C18:2 omega 6) in the
diet. A lower AA content was found in the samples from diets with the high
er omega-3 FA content (LO, SO), confirming the competition established betw
een both omega-3 and omega-6 precursors, LNA and LA, in synthesizing their
long-chain derivatives.
A low level of polyunsaturation could be identified by the sensory panelist
s, since the RO samples (rich in monounsaturated FA, MUFA) were identified
as different in flavor in almost all the comparisons that were carried out.