Lipid and fatty acid composition of rabbit meat: Part 2.-Phospholipids

The phospholipid contents (and their fatty acid composition) of the meat of two rabbit breeds (New Zealand white and the commercial hybrid HYLA) fed with two commercial diets of different protein and fibre contents, have been determined. The phospholipid contents in the meat of both rabbit breeds ranged from 9% to 19% total lipid. In this fraction seven different phospholipid classes were detected but phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatididylethanolamine (PE) had average percentages of 50 and 20 of the total phospholipids. The major fatty acids of both phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine were C-16:0, C-18:0, C-18:1 and C-18:2, these together representing more than 70% of the total fatty acids. In general, the PC had an higher saturated fatty acid content than PE, which had a lower percentage of C-16:0 but higher C-20:4. Although differences in the fatty acid composition of the phospholipid fractions of the rabbit meat were observed, the only clear influences of age, sex, breed, and/or feeding were found with the C-16:0, C-18:0 and C-18:2 fatty acids.