Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of dietary $\omega$-fatty acids on fatty acids composition and storage characteristics in meat samples of spent hens. Spent hens were randomly assigned to one of the four dietary treatments : 1) Control (commercial feed), 2) T1 (commercial feed supplemented with 10% olive oil, 3) T2 (commercial feed with 10% canola oil), and 4) T3 (commercial feed with 10% sardine oil). They were fed one of the experimental diets for three weeks and slaughtered. The meat samples were stored at 4 ${\pm}$ 1 ˚C The storage characteristics and fatty acid contents were analyzed for meat samples stored over a period of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days. The pH of all treatments significantly increased during the storage periods(P<0.05). The per-oxide values (POV) of all treatments were significantly increased up to 5 days ; after that the POV decreased significantly (P<0.05). The POV of treated groups were significantly higher than those of the Control in the thigh meat(P<0.05). The TBARS showed the highest POV among all treatments. Although the breast meat tended to he lower in POV than the thigh meat, no significant difference was detected between the two meats. The TBARS(thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) of all treatments were significantly increased as the storage period extended(P<0.05). After 3 days, the TB ARS of oil-treated groups were aignificantly higher than that of the Control (P<0.05). The T3 showed the highest TBARS among all treatments (P<0.05). The TBARS of the breast meat was lower than that of the thigh, but no statistical difference was found be- tween them. The unsaturated fatty acid content of the breast and thigh meats in all treatments were slightly decreased as the storage period extended. The oleic acid was higher in Ti, and the linoleic acid and linolenic acid were higher in T2 than the other treatments. The eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were higher in T3 than the other treatments. The unsaturated fatty acid contents of the breast meat were slightly lower than those of the thigh meat. The n-6 fatty acid contents of the breast and thigh meats were slightly increased as the storage periods ex-tended. The n-3 fatty acid content of T3 was the highest among all treatments. The n-6 fatty acid content of breast meat was lower than that of thigh meat. The n-6 fatty acid content of the breast meat was slightly lower than that of the thigh meat.