Research Note: Hepatic Tocopherol Concentration in Turkeys as Influenced by Dietary Vitamin E and Fat

Hepatic α-tocopherol concentrations (TC) are reported in turkeys fed corn-soybean meal type diets containing no added fat (control, C), 8% animal fat (A), 8% hydrolyzed animal-vegetable fat (AV), or 8% soybean oil (S) and supplemented factorially with 0,10, or 300 mg DL-α-tocopheryl acetate (ATA)/kg diet. Increasing dietary ATA resulted in greater hepatic TC. At 0 mg ATA/kg diet, hepatic TC was higher and lower with S and AV supplementation, respectively, than with C or A supplementation. At 10 mg ATA/kg diet, hepatic TC was higher with C and decreased stepwise with S, A, and AV supplementation. There was a strong inverse relationship between liver storage of vitamin E and development of tissue rancidity.