Effects of supplementation of microalgae (aurantiochytrium sp.) to laying hen diets on fatty acid content, health lipid indices, oxidative stability, and quality attributes of meat

Bing Liu, Jiang Jiang, Dongyou Yu, Gang Lin, Youling L. Xiong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study is conducted to investigate the effects of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich microalgae (MA, Aurantiochytrium sp.) on health lipid indices, stability, and quality properties of meat from laying hens. A total of 450 healthy 50-wk-old Hy-Line Brown layers were randomly allotted to 5 groups (6 replicates of 15 birds each), which received diets supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% MA for 15 weeks. Fatty acid contents and quality properties of breast and thigh muscles from two randomly selected birds per replicate (n = 12) were measured. The oxidative stability of fresh, refrigerated, frozen, and cooked meat was also determined. Results indicated that supplemental MA produced dose-dependent enrichments of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA), predominantly DHA, in breast and thigh muscles, with more health-promoting n-6/n-3 ratios (1.87–5.27) and favorable lipid health indices (p < 0.05). MA supplementation did not affect tenderness (shear force) and color (L*, a*, and b* values) of hen meat nor muscle endogenous antioxidant enzymes and fresh meat oxidation (p > 0.05). However, the n-3 LC-PUFA deposition slightly increased lipid oxidation in cooked and stored (4 C) meat (p < 0.05). In conclusion, MA supplementation improves the nutritional quality of hen meat in terms of lipid profile without compromising meat quality attributes. Appropriate antioxidants are required to mitigate oxidation when such DHA-enriched meat is subjected to cooking and storage.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1271
JournalFoods
Volume9
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant No. 2018YFD0401203) and the open project program of State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University (No. SKLF-KF-201711).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Aurantiochytrium sp
  • Health lipid indices
  • Laying hens
  • Meat quality
  • Oxidative stability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Food Science
  • Microbiology
  • Health(social science)
  • Health Professions (miscellaneous)
  • Plant Science

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