Abstract
Fat tailed sheep breeds are known for their adaptation to nutritional stress, among other harsh production conditions. Damara sheep, native to Southern Africa, have recently been exported to other areas of the world, particularly Australia, aiming to produce lamb in semi-arid regions. Damaras have a unique hanging fat tail, a fat depot able to be mobilized under nutritional stress. In this article we perform an in-depth characterization of the fatty acid profiles of the fat tail in underfed and control Damara rams. Profiles were very similar between experimental groups, with the exception of palmitic acid (16:0) that was lower (P = 0.014) in underfed animals. However, the most striking result was the very high proportions of non-terminal branched chain fatty acids found in the fat tail adipose tissue, as well as the gastrocnemius muscle of Damara rams. The muscle of Dorper and Merino rams used in the same experiment did not present non-terminal branched chain fatty acids, suggesting that Damara rams have a unique lipid metabolism. Herein, we interpret this trait relating it to a higher ability of Damara sheep to digest fibrous fodder and to putative differences in the propionate metabolism by comparison to other sheep breeds.
Highlights
Fat tail and fat rump sheep are characteristic of semi-arid environments and commonly found across vast areas of the globe: Eastern and Southern Africa, the steppes of Central Asia, as well as numerous countries in the Middle-East
The reduction of tail fat depots in Damara submitted to feed restriction was proportional to live weight and carcass weight losses, as tail fat depot represent the 2.3% of live weight in both feed restricted and growth groups. This might be explained by the mild feed restriction (85% of maintenance requirements for 42 d) imposed to animals and by the fact that fat tail depot mobilization has a low priority order, after subcutaneous and perirenal fat depots [14]
Tail fat mobilization had limited effects on the fatty acid profile suggesting that there is no differential metabolization of any particular fatty acid
Summary
Fat tail and fat rump sheep are characteristic of semi-arid environments and commonly found across vast areas of the globe: Eastern and Southern Africa, the steppes of Central Asia, as well as numerous countries in the Middle-East. The Damara (see Figure 1) is one of such fat tailed sheep breeds characterized by a large body frame and a shedding hair coat. Fat tailed sheep are reputed for being highly resilient to harsh environmental conditions such as diseases, parasites, water scarcity or seasonal weight loss, but experimental support for such claims are scarce. Samples of tail adipose tissue of the Damara rams used in that experiment were collected and analysed for fatty acid composition. No information of fatty acid composition of adipose tissue from Damara tails is available in scientific literature. Fatty acid composition of adipose tissue of fat tails of other breeds is generally limited to the major fatty acids [3,4,5,6,7] and more detailed fatty acid profiles are scarce [8]
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