Vitamin E is the major contributor to the antioxidant capacity in lambs fed whole dried citrus pulp

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary whole dried citrus pulp (DCP) on the antioxidant status of lamb tissues. In total, 17 lambs were divided into two groups and fed for 56 days: a barley-based concentrate diet (CON -eight animals), or a concentrate-based diet including 35% DCP to partially replace barley (CIT -nine animals). The CIT diet contained a double concentration of phenolic compounds than the CON diet (7.9 v. 4.0 g/kg dry matter (DM), respectively), but had no effect ( P > 0.05) on the overall antioxidant capacity of the hydrophilic fraction of blood plasma, liver and muscle. The CIT diet contained clearly more α-tocopherol than the CON diet (45.7 v. 10.3 mg/kg DM), which could explain the higher concentration of α-tocopherol in liver, plasma and muscle ( P < 0.05). The dietary treatment had no effect on the extent of lipid peroxidation, measured as thiobarbituric acid and reactive substances assay (TBARS values) in the faeces, small intestine, liver, plasma and muscle. Nevertheless, when muscle homogenates were incubated in the presence of Fe 3+ /ascorbate to induce lipid peroxidation, the muscle from lambs fed DCP displayed lower TBARS values ( P < 0.01), which negatively correlated with the concentration of α-tocopherol in muscle. These results showed that feeding whole DCP to ruminants increases the antioxidant status of muscle through an increase in the deposition of α-tocopherol.

Using dried orange pulp in the diet of dairy goats: effects on milk yield and composition and blood parameters of dams and growth performance and carcass quality of kids

“…Citrus phenolic compounds, mainly flavonoids, possess antioxidant activity, and their intake with the diet has been suggested to increase the antioxidant capacity of animal tissue. However, the possible mechanisms for the antioxidant effects are not clear (Luciano et al, 2017). Indeed, Luciano et al (2017) reported that despite the fact that flavonoids are generally considered the main antioxidants in citrus fruits, α-tocopherol plays the major role in improving antioxidant capacity of muscle of lambs fed diets supplemented with DCP.…”

“…The orange juice industry produces organic waste such as dried orange pellets that can be used for animal feeding as a source of dietary energy (Bampidis and Robinson, 2006). Furthermore, citrus pulp can be a source of residual bioactive molecules with antioxidant properties, including phenolic compounds (Santos et al, 2014;Luciano et al, 2017) and vitamin E (Luciano et al, 2017).…”

Carotenoids and Liposoluble Vitamins in the Plasma and Tissues of Light Lambs Given Different Maternal Feedings and Fattening Concentrates

“…Supporting the previous hypothesis, the higher retinol content in the liver but lower concentration in the plasma of lambs on the sainfoin diet compared to those on the intensive diet was related to a time- and dose-dependent depletion of retinol caused by the concentrate fed during the fattening period before slaughter, as reported in steers [ 35 ]. Usually, the α-tocopherol content in the liver reflects differences due to the diet when this diet was fed until slaughter [ 14 , 36 ]. In the present study, the different α-tocopherol content in the maternal feedstuffs was not reflected in the liver of the lambs as has been reported previously in suckling lambs [ 10 ], probably due to the fattening period of 28 days when the lambs received only concentrate and straw with low α-tocopherol content.…”

Supranutritional doses of vitamin E to improve lamb meat quality

“…Recent studies have pointed out a great number of natural sources of vitamin E that may be used to supplement grain-based diets. Chesnutt, mimosa and tara extracts, dried tomato pomace, rosemary distillation residues, dried citrus pulp and olive cake are some feasible examples of alternative sources of vitamin E available in many regions where lambs grow intensively (Luciano et al, 2013;Luciano et al, 2017;Valenti et al, 2018a;Valenti et al, 2018b;Yagoubi et al, 2018). Moreover, these resources are cheaper and ecologically friendly, since they are agro-industrial by-products.…”