RESUMO
We studied the effect of dietary fatty acids on plasma fatty acid profile as well as growth performance [total food consumption TFC, weight gain WG, and feed efficiency FE] in rabbits fed three different diets varying in their omega-3 [w-3] and omega-6 [w-6] long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid [LCPUFA] concentrations for four weeks after weaning. The first diet was the control negative diet [CND] with no LCPUFA; the second was fortified with egg yolk [EY] as a source of Arachidonic Acid A A 20:4 [w-6] and Docosahexaenoic Acid DHA 22:6 [w-3] with the ratio of [1:0.5] respectively; and the third was fortified with egg yolk and fish oil [EY + FO] as sources of AA and DHA with the ratio of [1:1] respectively, breast feeding infant rabbits were used as a control positive diet [CPD] group [breast milk contains LCPUFA 20:4 and 22:6]. There was a significant increase [p<0.05] in WG thereby FE in the [EY + FO] group in comparison with [EY] and [CND] groups, while no significant differences [p<0.05] were obtained in [TFC] among the fed groups. However, there was a significant increase in PUFA particularly Oleic Acid OA 18:l [w-9] in [EY + FO] group compared to [EY] and [CND] groups, and significant increase in OA, Linoleic Acid LA 18:2 [w-6] and Alpha Linolenic Acid ALA 18:3 [w-3] in plasma of the [CPD] group compared to the fed groups. Four weeks after weaning, there was slightly increase in LCPUFA particularly AA in plasma of the [EY + FO] group in comparison with [EY] and [CND] groups, and DHA in plasma of the [EY] group in comparison with [EY + FO] and [CND] groups. Despite this insignificant increase in the level of AA and DHA which was observed in the fed groups in this study due to fortification with the suggested ratios; therefore, our study recommends more research in this area taking into account the ratio between AA and DHA