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Abstract
1. The effects of dietary vitamin E (DL-α-tocopheryl acetate) on carcase and meat quality, oxidative stability, fatty acid composition of muscle lipids, and gene expression related to lipid metabolism were studied in Beijing-you chickens.
2. A total of 360 female birds were distributed among 6 treatments, containing 6 replicates, each of 10 birds. The feed for each treatment was supplemented with vitamin E (0, 10, 50, 100, 150, or 200 mg/kg feed). At 120 d, 30 birds from each treatment were slaughtered to examine the effect of dietary vitamin E supplementation on evaluated traits.
3. The results showed that supplemental vitamin E in diet significantly increased α-tocopherol contents of breast and thigh muscles, reduced the drip loss and improved tenderness but did not influence carcase yield, meat colour or pH value 24 h after slaughter.
4. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) values decreased with increase in dietary vitamin E, and the addition of 100 mg/kg or more vitamin E had a beneficial effect on oxidative stability as indicated by TBARS values during storage up to 7 d.
5. Dietary vitamin E supplementation significantly altered fatty acid composition of breast muscle. Supplementing with 200 mg/kg vitamin E led to lower saturated fatty acids and greater polyunsaturated fatty acids proportions in breast muscle than control and 10 mg/kg vitamin E treatments.
6. Vitamin E supplementation significantly inhibited expression of the cytosolic phospholipase A2 gene (cPLA 2) in breast muscle, while enhancing that of the peroxisome proliterator-activated receptor beta (PPAP-β) and heart fatty acid binding protein genes (H-FABP). The results indicate that dietary supplementation with vitamin E increased lipid stability in muscle and improved meat quality and fatty acid composition, probably by its influence on the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Professor W. Bruce Currie (Cornell University, USA) who made language suggestions on the manuscript. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2004CB117506) and Chinese Basic Condition Platform Terms of Science and Technology (2005DKA21101).
