Accumulation of alpha-tocopherol in eggs enriched with omega3 and omega6 polyunsaturated fatty acids

Departament de Ciencia Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat Veterinaria, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the pattern of accumulation of alpha-tocopherol (alpha-Toc) in egg as a response to dietary supplementation with 200 mg/kg diet of alpha-tocopheryl acetate (alpha-TA) and whether the inclusion of dietary oils with different fatty acid (FA) composition affected this parameter. Forty hens were randomly distributed into two treatments resulting from the supplementation of a basal diet containing 200 mg/kg alpha-TA with either 5% linseed oil (LO) or sunflower oil (SO). alpha-Tocopherol concentration of eggs was measured at 0, 4, 9, 14, 19, and 50 d after inclusion of the experimental diets. Results show that alpha-Toc concentration in the egg increased after the 4th d of feeding, reaching its maximum level at 14 d (168 microg/g egg), after which it decreased 10 to 12% until 19 d, obtaining similar values at 50 d (145 microg/g egg). No differences were observed between dietary oils in the deposition pattern of alpha-Toc in the egg.