Flaxseed treatments to reduce biohydrogenation of alpha-linolenic acid by rumen microbes in cattle.

Enrichment of beef muscle with n-3 fatty acids (FA) is one means to introduce these FA into the diet, but ruminal biohydrogenation limits their bioavailability. To address this problem, we evaluated the ability of condensed tannin (quebracho), in the presence or absence of casein, to protect 18:3n-3 in flaxseed from hydrogenation by ruminal microbes in cattle using an in vitro fermentation approach coupled with evaluation in cattle in vivo. Treated and untreated flaxseed was incubated with bovine rumen fluid for 0 and 24 h. With tannin treated flaxseed, hydrogenation of 18:3n-3 was limited to only 13% over 24 h compared to 43% for untreated flaxseed, while addition of casein to the tannin added no additional protection. To determine if a similar level of protection would occur in vivo, we used two groups of five steers fed either a grain-based or forage-based diet. Five steers were given a grain-based diet during the trial and were fed either ground flaxseed or tannin treated flaxseed for 15 days prior to blood collection for plasma lipid fatty acid analysis. The forage fed steers followed the same regimen. Ingestion of tannin-treated flaxseed did not increase 18:3n-3 and 20:5n-3 in plasma neutral lipids as compared to non-treated flaxseed. Thus, we demonstrated that treating ground flaxseed with quebracho tannin is not useful for increasing 18:3n-3 in the neutral lipid of bovine blood plasma, and suggest caution when interpreting results from in vitro trials that test potential treatments for protecting fatty acids from hydrogenation by ruminal microbes.