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 language | English |
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Article number | 1271 |
Journal | Foods |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 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