Abstract
Two Swedish landlocked (nonanadromous) salmon (Salmo salar) stocks were investigated with the aim of characterising their egg fatty acid (FA) and carotenoid profiles. Fish from one of the stocks were also cultured over the past few decades as part of the Swedish program for genetic preservation, allowing a comparison between the eggs from females on a diet based on lipids of limnic (natural food chain) origin and eggs from females fed an artificial diet of marine origin. No significant differences in the FA profile of the phospholipid (PL) or triacylglycerol (TAG) fraction were found between the two wild stocks. The content of EPA (20:5n-3, eicosapentaenoic acid) in PL fraction was significantly higher in eggs from cultured females (13.0%) compared with eggs from both wild stocks (5.7 and 6.4%). Further, in PL fraction, AA (20:4n-6, arachidonic acid) levels in these eggs were significantly lower (2.4% versus 6.7 and 6.2%). The AA content of the TAG fraction differed greatly between wild (4.4 and 4.9%) and cultured (1.2%) eggs, whereas this fraction showed almost no corresponding difference in EPA content. The level of DHA (22:6n-3, docosahexaenoic acid) did not differ between the two wild stocks or between wild and cultured fish. This was in spite of widely different levels of DHA in the diet. The composition of carotenoids was altered in the cultured eggs which had a higher proportion and higher content (1.16 μ g egg−1) of astaxanthin than the wild eggs (0.56 and 0.62 μg egg−1, respectively). Hatching success varied markedly between wild (>95%) and cultured fish (40–75%). We conclude that changes in the lipid source in the diet of female salmon during gonadal maturation will alter the egg fatty acid composition with an increased risk of disturbances in embryonic development as a consequence. Further, the lack of any difference between wild and cultured females in terms of their egg DHA content indicates that there is a strong genetic influence on levels of this fatty acid in salmon eggs.
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Pickova, J., Kiessling, A., Pettersson, A. et al. Fatty acid and carotenoid composition of eggs from two nonanadromous Atlantic salmon stocks of cultured and wild origin. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 21, 147–156 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007860908911
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007860908911