COMPOSITION OF INTRAMUSCULAR PHOSPHOLIPID FATTY ACIDS OF INRA RABBIT AT DIFFERENT AGES

The composition of intramuscular phospholipids fatty acids in Longissimus dorsimuscle (LD), left-hind leg muscle (LL) and abdominal muscle (AM) of Inra rabbit slaughtered between 35 to 90 days old were investigated. Significant decreasing of intramuscular phospholipids (% total intramuscular lipids) was observed in three muscles as age increased (p < 0.05). The highest phospholipids content was found in LL in both male and female rabbits during the growth period, and the phospholipids content in three muscles of the males were higher than that of the females. Abundant amount of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), especially polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) characterised the fatty acid composition of the intramuscular phospholipids (32.94-55.79%), and the percentage of PUFA in the muscles were all significantly decreased during the growth of male and female Inra rabbit (p < 0.05). In addition, a significant reduction of PUFA/SFA ratio and a significant increase of SFA + MUFA were observed (p < 0.05). Major fatty acids, such as Palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1n-9), linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) and arachidonic acid (C20:4) changed more obviously than other fatty acids. The analysis of partial least square regression (PLSR) showed that the composition of phospholipid fatty acids varied in age, muscle and gender, and the nutritional value of the phospholipid fatty acids decreased with age distinctly, the AM had better nutritional value of phospholipids.