Dietary pomegranate seed pulp increases conjugated-linoleic and -linolenic acids in muscle and adipose tissues of kid

Abstract

The effect of level of dried pomegranate seed pulp (PSP) in the diet of kids on meat quality and fatty acid profiles of intramuscular and subcutaneous fat was studied. Thirty two Mahabadi kids were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments: without PSP (control), containing 50g PSP/kg DM (PSP5), containing 100g PSP/kg DM (PSP10), and containing 150g PSP/kg DM (PSP15). At the end of the 84-day feeding trial, the kids were slaughtered and m. longissimus lumborum (LL) and subcutaneous adipose tissues were sampled. Addition of PSP linearly increased (P=0.01) fat content and decreased (P<0.01) shear force, drip loss, total aerobic bacterial count and lipid oxidation of LL muscle. Feeding PSP diets linearly increased the concentrations of C18:2 n-6 (P<0.01), C18:3 n-3 (P<0.001), n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; P<0.01) and n-3 PUFA (P<0.001) and decreased (P<0.05) the ratio of n-6/n-3 in both muscle and adipose tissues. A linear increase was observed in vaccenic acid (VA, P<0.01), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; P<0.001) and punicic acid (PUA; P<0.001) concentration in subcutaneous and intramuscular fat, with increasing PSP level in diet. In conclusion, PSP supplementation of kid's diet up to 150g/kg DM can improve the nutritional and functional properties of meat.