Effects of castration and zeranol on fatty acid composition and cholesterol content of hair lamb meat

Abstract

Hair lambs (n 072, crosses of Blackbelly, Dorper, and Katahdin breeds) with an average age of 90 days (21.49 2.3 kg of BW) were used to investigate the effects of sex class (CLASS: ram vs. wether) and zeranol implant (IMP: control vs. 12 mg) on fat and cholesterol content, and fatty acids (FAs) composition of intramuscular longissimus dorsi (LD) and biceps femoris (BF) and subcutaneous fat (SBC) depots of the loin area. Animals were assigned to one of four treatments with a factorial arrangement (n 018): (1) rams (R), (2) rams implanted with 12 mg zeranol (IR), (3) wether lambs (W), and (4) wether lambs implanted with 12 mg zeranol (IW). FAs C12:0 and C15:0 FAs were significantly higher in the wether's LD. The amount of C22:1 n-9 and C24:1 in rams' LD was higher than those of wethers. Wethers had a higher content of C18:1 cis 9 than R group, and the content of this cis isomer was significantly lower in the implanted group. LD of rams contained a higher amount of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and a higher PUFA/saturated fatty acid ratio. Cholesterol content in the three tissues (LD, BF, and SBC) was affected significantly by the CLASS)IMP interaction and was higher in wethers without implant. The sex class was the most important factor affecting lipid composition in hair lambs. The higher PUFA content in meat from rams may suggest a nutritional advantage in comparison to meat from wethers.

Fatty acid profile of Turkish Bandirma Crossbreed, Karacabey Merino Multiplier and Karacabey Merino Nucleus lambs raised in the same intensive production system

“…Additionally, Santos-Silva et al (2002) showed that the proportion of CLA present in intramuscular fat was dependent on feeding system. While some researchers reported that CLA rates are higher than the rates found in this study (Garcia et al, 2008;Cieslak et al, 2013;Villalobos-Villalobos et al, 2014), others have indicated lower CLA rate in lamb genotypes (Santos-Silva et al, 2002;Yarali et al, 2014). Linoleic acid (n-6, C18:2) predominates among the PUFAs.…”

“…As it is shown in Table 1, the proportion of SFAs was higher in BC lambs than the other lamb breeds and differences in the total percentage of SFAs were insignificant (p > 0.05). SFAs content in all genotypes was relatively high and similar to those notified by Villalobos-Villalobos et al (2014).…”

“…A decrease in SFAs level and/or a concomitant increase in the monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) content of ruminant meat may confer benefits for human health (Villalobos-Villalobos et al, 2014). For these reasons, there is an increased interest in the fatty acid composition of lamb meat by consumers from day by day.…”

Effect of zilpaterol hydrochloride on animal performance and carcass characteristics in sheep: a meta-analysis

“…The livestock and meat industry is constantly looking for alternatives to promote fast and efficient growth of livestock, improve the carcass yield, i.e., increasing Longissimus dorsi muscle area (Beermann 2009;Etherton 2009) or diminishing the fat content in the carcass (Villalobos-Villalobos et al 2014).…”

Effects of yeast culture supplementation and the ratio of non‐structural carbohydrate to fat on growth performance, carcass traits and the fatty acid profile of the longissimus dorsi muscle in lambs

“…Therefore, isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diet is one of the important factors need to be considered when evaluating the effects of diet energy structure on YC supplementation. Moreover, given that mutton is a high‐quality source of PUFA for humans, increasing the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content and reducing the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content of mutton is a goal that scholars need to consider (Villalobos‐Villalobos et al, ). However, few studies have been performed regarding the effects of YC on the fatty acid profile of the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle.…”