Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with heated linseed on the fatty acid (FA) composition of the plasma, liver, and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SADT) of Albas white cashmere kids, particularly the effect on n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated FA profiles and the mRNA expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in SADT. Sixty 4-month-old castrated male kids (average BW 18.6 ± 0.1 kg) were selected and randomly allocated into three groups in a randomized block design. Three dietary treatments were used: (1) basal diet without supplementation (Control), (2) basal diet supplemented with linseed oil (LSO), and (3) basal diet supplemented with heated linseed grain (HLS). The diets were fed for 104 d, consisting of 14 d for adaptation followed by 90 d of measurement. Different FA profiles were found in SADT between LSO and HLS. Kids fed HLS had more C18:3n3 (P < 0.0001), C22:6n3 (P = 0.007), and n-3 PUFA (P < 0.0001) and a less (P < 0.0001) n-6/n-3 ratio than LSO kids. These FA differences between LSO and HLS kids were due to the increased expression of elongation of very long chain FA protein 5 (P < 0.0001), delta-6 desaturase (P < 0.0001), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (P = 0.003) in SADT of HLS kids and was also associated with liver fat metabolism. Together, these results suggest that the consumption of HLS leads to more C22:6n3 than LSO in SADT by increasing liver C22:6n3 content and by increasing SADT mRNA expression of ELOVL5 and FADS2 through promoting PPARα expression.