Thymol feed supplementation in quail alters the percentages of nutritionally relevant egg yolk fatty acids: effects throughout incubation

Abstract

PUFA are crucial components of the yolk and particularly prone to oxidative damage generating losses of nutrients for embryonic development and influencing the quality of eggs for human consumption. We evaluated whether dietary thymol (a natural antioxidant) is related to changes in quail egg yolk total, triglycerides and phospholipids fatty acid composition (T, TG, PL, respectively) at different stages of embryo development. Thus, female Japanese quail (100d) were assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments (12 individuals each): CON (basal diet) or THY (0.0016 mol of thymol day−1 animal−1). After 2 weeks of supplementation, eggs were incubated and samples were obtained at 0, 4 and 16d of embryonic development.