Effects on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and the fat and meat fatty acid profile of rabbits fed diets with chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seed supplements
Introduction
Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) is a member of the Labiatae family and is native to southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. The revival of interest in chia seed (SHS) is due to their oil content, which is about 25–39% oil by weight (Ayerza, 1995, Ting et al., 1990). This oil is a rich source of the following polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA): linoleic (C18:2n6; 17–26%) and α-linolenic acid (C18:3n3; 50–57%). The seeds have crude protein and fibre contents that range from 17% to 24% and from 18% to 22%, respectively (Ayerza and Coates, 2000, Bushway et al., 1981). These variations are probably due to environmental conditions (Ayerza & Coates, 2004). The nutritional and chemical evaluation of chia seeds was reported by Weber, Gentry, Kohlhepp, and McCrohan (1991), while Meineri and Peiretti (2007) determined the apparent digestibility of mixed feeds with increasing levels of chia seeds in rabbit diets. Furthermore, Castro-Martinez, Pratt, and Miller (1986) asserted that SHS oil contains a number of compounds with potent antioxidant activities: myricetin, quercetin, kaemperol, and caffeic acid and this makes the oil quite stable in spite of its high PUFA content (Taga, Miller, & Pratt, 1984). Recent research shows that it is possible to use SHS oil, or its by-products, for animal nutrition with the aim of obtaining PUFA enriched animal products. Ayerza and Coates (1999) used chia seed in laying hen diets to produce eggs with a high n − 3 PUFA content, a reduced SFA content, and a lower n − 6/n − 3 ratio without imparting off-flavours. A more comprehensive trial was undertaken by Ayerza and Coates (2000), who reported the compositional analysis of the eggs and showed that n − 3 PUFA content increased, while cholesterol and saturated fatty acid contents decreased, with increasing levels of chia in the diets. Ayerza and Coates (2002) showed that up to 280 g/kg of chia seed can be fed to brown laying hens with no adverse effects on egg production, and with increased egg weights. White hens were superior in terms of egg production with the 70 g/kg chia diet; however, they tended to have a lower egg production when fed on diets containing more than 140 g/kg of chia. A subsequent trial (Ayerza, Coates, & Lauria, 2002) was conducted to determine the effects that feeding chia to broilers would have on white and dark meat cholesterol, fat content, and fatty acid composition, as well as on broiler weight gain and mortality. The most significant findings in this trial were the effects that chia had on palmitic acid, SFA, n − 3 PUFA, and the n − 6/n − 3 fatty acid ratio of broiler white and dark meats. Enriched n − 3 PUFA poultry meat brought about by feeding chia could be useful to help consumers meet health recommendations. Recent recommendations for human diets suggest increasing n − 3 PUFA consumption and decreasing the n − 6/n − 3 ratio to 5/1 (Lunn & Theobald, 2006).
Rabbit meat consumption is important in the Mediterranean area, especially in France, Italy and Spain; in 1995 Italy was the main producer with an estimated production of 300,000 metric tons of rabbit carcass (Colin & Lebas, 1995). Changes in rabbit meat demand over the last 20 years has been less important than observed for meats of other species. Nowadays, rabbit-meat-eating habits are changing (Dalle Zotte, 2002), but an improved fatty acid profile may encourage more people to utilise this alternative meat source.
Fat sources influence the fatty acid composition of rabbit body fat, as observed by various authors (Cavani et al., 1996, Cobos et al., 1993, Ouhayoun et al., 1987), and the main physical, chemical, and organoleptic characteristics of rabbit meat (Fernandez & Fraga, 1996).
Rabbit meat could be an alternative to fish and oilseeds as a source of n − 3 PUFA. Rabbits are able to directly incorporate dietary FA into adipose and muscle tissue lipids, making it possible to modify the FA profile of rabbits through the strategic use of unsaturated dietary fat sources (Dalle Zotte, 2002), for instance supplementing rabbit with fish meal rich in eicosanoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (Castellini & Dal Bosco, 1997) or other ingredients containing linolenic acid (Bernardini et al., 1999, Castellini et al., 1999).
Depending on the fat composition, rabbit meat could be a useful food in human diets because it has many positive dietetic characteristics, for example low cholesterol levels (on average 53 mg/100 g fresh meat; Dalle Zotte, 2002), a relatively high content of PUFA (Alasnier and Gandemer, 1998, Ouhayoun et al., 1985) and a very low n − 6/n − 3 ratio (Dalle Zotte, 2002). Therefore, to decrease this ratio in rabbit would help lower it in the human diet to recommended levels.
The present work was designed to study SHS as a new dietary source of n − 3 PUFA for the production of healthy rabbit meat and its effect on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and FA profile of the meat and perirenal fat.
Section snippets
Animals and diets
The study was carried out at the CISRA experimental rabbitry at the University of Turin according to the guidelines for applied nutrition experiments in rabbits (Fernández-Carmona et al., 2005).
Thirty weaned crossbred rabbits aged 50 days and weighing, on average, 1433 ± 28 g were randomly assigned to three groups of ten (five male and five female rabbits each). The animals were housed individually under standard conditions at 22 °C ± 2 °C in wire cages at a height of 90 cm from the concrete floor. The
Composition of the chia seed and diets
The chemical composition, nutritional value and polyenic fatty acids content of the SHS and of the three experimental diets are reported in Table 1.
The crude protein and lipid contents in the seed are important nutritional parameters. Unlike most other cereals, SHS is not limiting in any amino acid and contains 23.5% of crude protein, a markedly higher level than other nutritional grains such as oats (15.3%), wheat (14%), corn (14%), barley (9.2%), or rice (8.5%). The ether extract content is
Conclusions
Chia seed can be fed to rabbits at levels of up to 15% of the diet without any adverse effects on growth performance or carcass characteristics. The SHS dietary supplementation is effective in improving the n − 3 PUFA content, decreasing the n − 6/n − 3 ratio and reducing the saturation, atherogenic and thrombogenic indexes of the meat, with consequent benefits on the nutritional quality of rabbit meat for consumers. However, the impact of the tissue fatty acid modification on the sensory traits of
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by University funds and by the National Research Council. Thanks are due to Dr. L. Sterpone for her technical support and Mr. G. Cerato for the preparation of the pelleted diets.
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