The relationship between the levels of α-tocopherol and carotenoids in the maternal feed, yolk and neonatal tissues: comparison between the chicken, turkey, duck and goose

✍ Scribed by Surai, Peter F; Ionov, Igor A; Kuchmistova, Elena F; Noble, Raymond C; Speake, Brian K

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 177 KB
• Volume: 76
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0010(199804)76:4<593::aid-jsfa993>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

The relationship between the levels of the lipid-soluble antioxidants, a-tocopherol and carotenoids, in the parental diet, the yolk and the neonatal tissues was investigated for four avian species of commercial importance. The chicken displayed a much greater efficiency in incorporating a-tocopherol from the parental diet into the yolk in comparison with the turkey, duck and goose. Thus, in spite of similar concentrations in the respective diets, the resultant concentration of a-tocopherol in the yolk of the chicken egg was four to Ðve times greater than observed for the other three species. A similar but less dramatic picture was observed for carotenoids : identical dietary provision of carotenoids in the maternal feeds resulted in the chicken eggs displaying between 1É4 and 1É9 times the concentration in the yolk than was observed for the other three species. These di †erences between the species regarding the levels of a-tocopherol and carotenoids in the yolk were closely reÑected in the subsequent concentrations of these components in the livers of the hatchlings. Thus, the concentrations of a-tocopherol and carotenoids in the liver of the day-old chicken were respectively about three and two times greater than in the livers of the other three species. Although the water-soluble antioxidant, ascorbic acid, is synthesised by the embryo as opposed to provision via the maternal diet and the yolk, the concentration of this component in the brain of the day-old chicken was approximately 50% greater than in the brains of the other three species. Thus, it is possible that the antioxidant capacity of the developing turkey, duck and goose may be compromised under conditions of commercial production. All four species displayed a rapid depletion of a-tocopherol and carotenoids from the livers during the Ðrst 9 days after hatching.

1998 SCI.