n-3 enrichment of chicken meat. 1. Use of very long-chain fatty acids in chicken diets and their influence on meat quality: Fish oil

We assessed the effect of a diet supplemented with fish oil (FO) on the per formance, fatty acid (FA) composition, quality, and sensory traits of broil er meat. Diets enriched with 0, 2, or 4% FO plus tallow (T) up to 8% added fat (T1, T2, and T3, respectively) were given to the birds throughout a 38- d growth period. T3 was replaced by a mixture of FO, linseed oil (LO), and T (1, 3, and 4% respectively) for 1 wk (T4) or 2 wk (T5) before slaughter. Meat quality, taste, and FA profile were determined. Higher final weights w ere recorded for birds fed T3, although feed efficiency was not affected. O ther performance or objective meat quality parameters did not show signific ant differences among treatments. High FO concentrations decreased the satu rated and monoenoic FA contents in the thigh samples. The amount of polyuns aturated fatty acids (PUFA) increased when added to the diet (FO diets), ma inly as long-chain n-3 FA leicosapentaenoic fatty acid (EPA), docosapentaen oic fatty acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic fatty acid (DHA)I. On the other h and, levels of total n-6 FA resulted in slight changes, mostly in linoleic acid (LA). By replacing the FO diet with the experimental mixture (T4, T5), the n-3 and n-6 FA contents increased, mainly in the form of linolenic aci d and LA, respectively, only 1 wk later. After 1 wk of T4, the DHA levels i n chicken decreased. Sensory panelists could not identify the meats from T4 and T5 as being different from the control diet (T1).