Further Studies on Tocopherol Content and Stability of Carcass Fat of Chickens and Turkeys

THIS paper concerns a cooperative study designed to extend results currently reported in a companion paper (Mecchi et al., 1956) on the effect of tocopherol and of fatty acids in the diet on the composition and stability of carcass fat of chickens and turkeys. The previous work established, for feeding periods of 5 to 10 weeks, that although there was no appreciable difference in the fatty acid composition of depot fat, there were marked differences in the deposited tocopherol and in the corresponding fat stability between the two species. Chickens deposited tocopherol much more efficiently and had a much greater fat stability than did turkeys. Dietary supplements of tocopherol increased the tocopherol contents and stabilities of both species, but the superiority of the chickens was maintained or enhanced. Since the previous studies were made on birds with starting ages of 10 to 24 weeks and with no prior control …