title: Effect of dietary alfalfa on the fatty acid composition and indexes of lipid metabolism of rabbit meat.
abstract: The objective of the study was to analyse and increase the quality of rabbit meat by increasing the levels of natural bioactive compounds through providing fresh alfalfa to rabbits as complementary feed. At 50 days of age, forty rabbits were divided into two homogeneous groups and fed pelleted feed (control group) or pelleted feed plus fresh alfalfa (alfalfa group). The lipid content of meat was significantly higher in the control group likely due to the higher feed consumption observed in this group. The same trend was observed in the contents of myristic, palmitoleic, oleic and linoleic acid. On the contrary, the supplementation of fresh alfalfa increased the stearic, linolenic, eicosatrienoic, eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic and total polyunsaturated fatty acid contents; also the total monounsaturated fatty acids and the α- and γ-tocopherol content was significantly lower. Moreover, alfalfa ingestion decreased the n-6 content, n-6/n-3 ratio and thrombogenicity index.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: dalbosco@unipg.it.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dal Bosco
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mugnai
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roscini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mattioli
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruggeri
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castellini
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases / Q000378:metabolism; D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated / Q000032:analysis*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000032:analysis*; D063427:Food Quality; D019787:Linoleic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D000455:Medicago sativa; D011817:Rabbits; D024505:Tocopherols / Q000032:analysis; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D019787:Linoleic Acid; D044943:Fatty Acid Desaturases; D024505:Tocopherols
keywords: Alfalfa; Fatty acid; Lipid oxidation; Meat; Rabbit