Dietary supplementation of (alpha)-tocopheryl acetate on (alpha)tocopherol levels in duck tissues and its influence on meat storage stability

The effect of feeding three levels of (alpha)-tocopheryl acetate on quality and stability of duck meat was studied. Day-old white Peking ducklings (n = 75) were assigned to three dietary treatments (n = 25) 20 mg (alpha)-tocopheryl acetate per kg feed (E20, control), 400 mg (alpha)-tocopheryl acetate per kg feed (E400) and 1000 mg (alpha)tocopheryl acetate per kg feed (E1000). (alpha)-Tocopherol concentrations in breast, thigh, liver and heart tissues were significantly (P < 0.05) increased, in a dose-dependent manner. Supplementation also enhanced oxidative stability of duck muscle. Breast muscle was more susceptible to lipid oxidation than thigh muscle for all groups studied, even though breast muscle contained higher (alpha)-tocopherol levels than thigh muscle. These findings are significant because previous studies using chickens and turkeys showed that breast meat was always more stable than thigh meat and that thigh meat always had higher (alpha)-tocopherol levels than breast meat. Supplementation with (alpha)-tocopheryl acetate did not improve the colour stability of duck meat.