Abstract
The present study amied to investigate the influence of defficiency of the essential fatty acid on growing chick. purified diets in which each or all of linoleic acid, linolenic acid and arachidonic acid were omitted were used as experimental diets. Although the chicks received such fatty acid deleted diet, neither the growth retardation, any one of apparent defficiency symptoms of the essential fatty acid, nor variations in the feed intake and the feed efficiency was observed. In composition of fatty acid of body fat, conspicuous lowering of the value of linoleic acid in fat from the pectoral and femoral muscle, liver and epidermis as well as decrease of arachidonic acid of the fat from the pectoral and femoral muscle and liver was recorded. In the pectoral muscle and liver, moreover, a substsnce of C20:3(5, 8, 11) known as the precursor of arachidonic acid was recognized to occur by deletion of dietary linoleic acid.
According to the deletion of linolenic acid in diet, the decrease in linolenic acid in the pectoral and femoral muscle and liver, and its increase in the epidermis were observed respectively. Slight lowering of the values of arachidonic acid in the pectoral and femoral muscle and epidermis fat and the trends of the increase in hepatic arachidonic acid were observed respectively.
