• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2016

Vegetative plants in Yakutia are naturally frozen when they are covered with snow in the fall, and they function as green cryo-fodder that is a source of biologically active substances and nutrients for herbivorous animals. We observed a considerable increase in the total fatty acid content in the leaves of Avena sativa, Elytrigia rеpens, Equisetum variegatum and Equisetum scirpoides during the fall period. However, the degree of unsaturation of fatty acids was not higher in the frozen plants covered with snow than in the summer plants, with the exception of E. scirpoides, a dwarf horsetail found in the Pole of Cold in the northern hemisphere. In the internal adipose tissue of the Yakut horse (young horse meat), 18 fatty acids were found, including 10 saturated ones. Monounsaturated oleic С18:1 (n-9) acid and polyunsaturated α-linolenic С18:3 (n-3) acid were equally prevalent among the unsaturated fatty acids, accounting for 70% of the total unsaturated fatty acids. This composition of polyenoic fatty acids in the internal adipose tissue indicates that the Yakut horse actively feeds on the fall vegetation and the wintergreen sedge-grass. We believe that the high plant-specific free fatty acid content in the tissue of Yakut horses may play an important role in the regulation of their resistance to long-term low-temperature stress.