Fatty acid profile,oxidative stability,and sensory properties of breast meat from turkeys fed diets with a different n‐6/n‐3 PUFA ratio

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of diets with a different n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio (7.31, 4.43, and 0.99), resulting from the addition of different dietary oils: soybean, rapeseed, and linseed (diets S, R, and L, respectively), on the fatty acid (FA) profile, oxidative status, and sensory properties of turkey breast meat. After 15 wk of feeding, breast meat yield and chemical properties of the meat were similar in all groups. Raw breast meat of R turkeys had a significantly higher content of all‐trans‐retinol and α‐tocopherol, compared with S and L. The physicochemical properties of breast meat, including pH, color, drip loss, and cooking loss, did not differ significantly. Cooked meat samples differed significantly with respect to the concentrations of oleic acid, linoleic acid (S and R>L), and linolenic acid (S and R<L). Compared with S and R, breast meat of L turkeys was characterized by higher concentrations of total PUFAs (35.1 vs. 30.1 and 29.3%), a significantly lower n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio (1.51 vs. 5.43 and 5.07%) and a higher thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content (TBARS; 31.9 vs. 26.4 and 26.7 nmol/g). After 4 months of deep‐freeze storage the n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio did not deteriorate. It may be concluded that replacing soybean oil with linseed oil, but not with rapeseed oil, increased the proportion of PUFAs in the total FAs pool and improved the n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio, yet it also adversely affected the sensory properties and oxidative stability of meat. Both raw and stored breast meat from L turkeys was susceptible to oxidative changes, as manifested by the significantly higher TBARS concentrations (17.07 and 81.06) compared with those of the S group (10.91 and 53.00 nmol/g, respectively). Practical applications: Studies investigating the possibility of increasing the health benefits of poultry meat have been performed mostly on broilers, while the problem remains poorly researched in turkeys. Our findings show that linseed oil, in contrast to rapeseed oil, is a good source of PUFAs, in particular n‐3 PUFAs, that can be effectively transferred from feed to carcass lipids. However, desirable changes in the fatty acid profile are accompanied by increased susceptibility to lipid oxidation and deterioration of the sensory properties of meat. Thus, the linseed oil content of turkey diets should be reduced, or diets supplemented with linseed oil should be fed for shorter periods of time to alleviate the negative effects of linseed oil on the sensory attributes and oxidative status of meat.