Fatty acid profile of the carcasses of rabbits weaned at different ages and feeding conditions, receiving diets with or without soybean oil - DOI: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v31i3.6625

Abstract

In order to evaluate the fatty acid profile of the carcasses of rabbits weaned at different ages receiving diets with or without soybean oil from rabbit does submitted to different levels of digestible energy on diet, 80 animals were slaughtered at 70 days of age. The experimental design was a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial scheme (diets with 2600 and 2800 kcal DE until weaning versus weaning with at 28 and 35 days old versus diets with or without soybean oil addition from weaning to 70 days old), with eight treatments and ten replications. After slaughter, the right hind leg meat was collected and submitted to chemical analyses. No differences were observed in the fatty acid profile of hind leg meat of rabbits submitted to different DE levels until weaning and weaning ages. Therefore, the addition of soybean oil in the diets after weaning reduced the values of saturated fatty acids, increased the unsaturated acids, reduced the ω6:ω3 fatty acids ratio, and increased the polyunsaturated:unsaturated fatty acids ratio. These results showed that the diet fatty acid composition after weaning modulates the carcass fatty acid profile and provides a product that is healthy for human consumption.