Table 5.

Main effects of dietary PUFA n-6:n-3 ratio, vitamin E level, and age of chickens on the level of arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the lipids of bursa, spleen, and brain, % of total fatty acids.

		Bursa		Spleen		Brain
Dietary PUFA n-6:n-3 ratio1	Vitamin E level2	AA	DHA	AA	DHA	AA	DHA
		16-day-old chickens
High	Basal	2.11	0.54	3.69	0.06	3.77	3.12
	Increased	1.38	0.01	2.09	<0.01	3.67	2.15
Low	Basal	0.73	0.31	2.91	1.77	2.85	3.29
	Increased	0.51	0.37	2.79	1.73	2.77	3.13
		36-day-old chickens
High	Basal	1.30	<0.01	3.60	<0.01	4.24	2.15
	Increased	1.39	<0.01	4.63	0.03	4.07	2.21
Low	Basal	0.65	0.49	2.34	0.58	2.85	5.18
	Increased	0.56	0.58	2.10	1.23	3.85	4.67
Pooled SEM		0.101	0.064	0.172	0.126	0.156	0.169
Probability (P-value)
Dietary PUFA n-6:n-3 ratio (D)		0.001	0.020	0.001	0.001	0.001	0.001
Age of chickens (A)		0.20	0.73	0.30	0.020	0.11	0.001
Vitamin E level (E)		0.15	0.43	0.30	0.42	0.58	0.070
D × A		0.23	0.060	0.002	0.020	0.85	0.001
D × E		0.62	0.17	0.85	0.37	0.32	0.77
A × E		0.14	0.26	0.030	0.27	0.41	0.44
D × A × E		0.28	0.30	0.020	0.94	0.34	0.11

¹High, diets with corn oil; Low, diets with a mixture of linseed and fish oils.

²Basal, 50 mg l-α-tocopheryl acetate kg⁻¹ of feed; Increased, 300 mg l-α-tocopheryl acetate kg⁻¹ of feed.