Tropical grass and legume pastures may alter lamb meat physical and chemical characteristics

Abstract

The present study assessed the influence of the type of the tropical pastures on lamb body weight (BW) gain and meat quality. Fifty-four lambs were allocated to three grazing pastures: (1) AG -Aruana grass (Panicum maximum cv. IZ-5); (2) PPpigeon pea legume (Cajanus cajan cv. Anão); and (3) CS -contiguous swards, half of the paddock with AG and half with PP. After 92 days of grazing, the lambs were slaughtered. Carcasses were evaluated and the longissimus muscle was collected to determine color, lipid profile, tocopherol concentrations, and lipid oxidation. Although the pastures present differences in the characteristics of nutritional quality, the animals did not show difference in BW gain. The results show that all forage presented similar concentration of alpha-tocopherol (137 ± 14.37 mg kg −1 of fresh matter), whereas total and condensed tannin contents were greater in PP, intermediate in CS, and the lowest in AG treatment (P = 0.0001). Meat α-tocopherol content was similar among treatments (P = 0.1392), with an average concentration close to the optimal level to reduce the meat oxidation. Meat from AG treatment had 45 and 25% lower n-6/n-3 ratio than meat from PP and CS treatments, respectively. The legume increases the unsaturated fatty acids and the grass can reduce the n6/n3 ratio. The level of condensed tannin concentration did show to have important effect on meat characteristics. Both tropical pastures studied can provide a high amount of alpha-tocopherol, generating a great potential to increase the concentration of this antioxidant in lamb's meat.

Pigeon Pea Intercropped with Tropical Pasture as a Mitigation Strategy for Enteric Methane Emissions of Nellore Steers

“…Additionally, the CP content of Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. sampled during both dry and rainy seasons ( Table 2 ) were in line with those reported by Miano et al [ 40 ], Hampel et al [ 41 ] and Valadares Filho et al [ 42 ] (17 to 24% CP), resulting in an average CP content of the MIX treatment being 25–45% greater than that of the REC and DEG during the experimental period, which may have contributed to the better animal performance of this treatment. In forage diets, the NDF content is one of the determinants of forage intake [ 43 ], and the DEG and REC treatments showed NDF and ADF values in line with those reported for Urochloa spp.…”

“…In both seasons, the CT content of the DEG and REC treatments were higher than the content of other tropical grasses reported by Bueno et al [ 51 ], while the MIX treatment presented values higher than those found by Pereira et al [ 47 ] for pigeon pea, and values lower than those found in a tropical pasture intercropped with pigeon pea [ 41 ]. Some studies have shown that feed consumption by ruminants can be reduced when the concentration of TC exceeds 50 g CT/kg DM, due to the reduction in acceptability and conditioned aversion [ 52 , 53 ].…”

“…under tropical conditions [ 39 , 44 , 45 ]. For the MIX treatment, NDF content was lower than those found for pastures intercropped with pigeon pea [ 41 ]. Additionally, the lowest NDF and ADF values of the MIX treatment were in line with those reported by Alves et al [ 46 ] and Pereira et al [ 47 ] when evaluating the nutritional quality of Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.…”

“…However, the value of ADF in the MIX treatment was higher than that reported for a consortium of Panicum maximum Jacq. and pigeon pea [ 41 ]. On the other hand, the Lig values of the MIX treatment were lower than those found for this consortium [ 41 ].…”

“…and pigeon pea [ 41 ]. On the other hand, the Lig values of the MIX treatment were lower than those found for this consortium [ 41 ]. The mean EE values of the DEG and REC treatments were similar to those reported by Sá et al [ 48 ] for C 4 pastures composed mainly of Urochloa spp, and the EE values of MIX treatment are similar to those found by Vitti et al [ 49 ] and Castro-Montoya and Dickhoefer [ 17 ] when evaluating the nutritional quality of pigeon pea.…”