Lipid deposition and fatty acid composition of some adipose depots in lambs fed coconut oil supplemented diet

摘要

A study with 10 male lambs of Bulgarian dairy synthetic population was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary coconut oil supplementation on the lipid deposition of the carcass and the fatty acid composition in the internal, subcutaneous and intermuscular adipose tissue. The animals were divided in two groups - control and experimental, as the lambs from the latter received diet supplemented with coconut oil in amount 20g /d per animal for a period of three months. Judged by the measurements of the thickness of the subcutaneous adipose tissue in three locations, the dietary coconut oil supplementation did not increase significantly the lipid deposition of the carcass. Although a trend towards higher thickness of the subcutaneous fat in these locations was observed in the animals from the coconut oil supplemented group. Adipose tissue deposition was dependent on the location in the carcass. The content of the lauric, myristic and palmitic fatty acids, the total amount of the saturated fatty acids and the values of the atherogenic index were significantly increased (P<0.001) in response to the coconut oil included in the diet, thus indicating a certain unfavourable effect of the dietary coconut oil supplementation in amount of 20 g/d per animal. The content of the stearic acid as well as the stearoyl-CoA desaturase and elongase activities, and the total amount of the polyunsaturated fatty acids were lower (P<0.001; P<0.01) in the animals that received coconut oil. For most of the fatty acids depot specific influence was observed