Egg yolk lipids and maternal diet in the nutrition of turkey embryo

Abstract

Turkey hens were fed diets containing no added fat nor diets supplemented with soybean oil or neatsfoot oil. The composition of neutral and polar lipid fatty acids present in the unincubated turkey egg yolk was compared with that of those present in the yolk sac of the developing turkey embryo at different stages of development. Comparisons were made of the fatty acid fractions in the entire embryo homogenates, except liver and heart, which were analyzed separately. Changes in the relative amounts of the fatty acids are reported as affected by age of the embryo and by dietary lipids. The fatty acids from both the neutral and polar lipids which were utilized to the greatest extent for embryonic development were palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic, regardless of the dietary supplements. Arachidonic, tetracosenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids also were metabolized by the embryo. Saturated fatty acids, used by the embryo as development progressed, were palmitic, stearic, and arachidic acids. Analyses of the liver fatty acids showed that the C16∶0 C16∶1, C18∶0, C18∶1, and C20∶4 acids in the neutral and polar lipids decreased with embryonic development and varied with the type of diet. The heart contained low levels of myristic, palmitic, stearic, arachidic, and arachidonic acids in the neutral lipids and palmitoleic and oleic acids in the polar lipids.