Effect of dietary alfalfa on the fatty acid composition and indexes of lipid metabolism of rabbit meat

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 alpha- and gamma-tocopherol content was significantly lower. Moreover, alfalfa ingestion decreased the n - 6 content, n - 6/n - 3 ratio and thrombogenicity index. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.