Effect of oregano essential oil and benzoic acid supplementation to a low-protein diet on meat quality, fatty acid composition, and lipid stability of longissimus thoracis muscle in pigs

Chuanshang Cheng,Jian Peng,Chao Wang,Siwen Jiang,Zhao Deng,Zuhong Liu,Mao Xia,Xiaming Zhang,Hongkui Wei

doi:10.1186/s12944-017-0535-1

Abstract

BackgroundConsumers are becoming increasingly interested in food containing appropriately high concentration of intramuscular fat (IMF) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The supplementation of feed with antioxidants decreases degradation of lipids in muscles thereby enhances nutritional and sensory properties of meat. Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of adding oregano essential oil (OEO) and benzoic acid (BA) to low-protein, amino acid-supplemented diets on meat quality, sensory profile, fatty acid composition, and lipid oxidation of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle in pigs.MethodsIn Exp. 1, 21 barrows were housed in metabolism cages and randomly allotted to 1 of 3 diets. The three diets were normal protein diet (NPD), medium protein diet (MPD) and low protein diet (LPD) with 1% and 2% less than NPD, respectively. In Exp. 2, 36 barrows were randomly divided into three experimental groups, namely, NPD, LPD, and identical LPD supplemented with blends of OEO (250 mg/kg feed) and BA (1000 mg/kg feed) (LPOB) groups.ResultsNo significant effects of diets on meat quality were observed in Exp. 1. The b*45min, tenderness, and IMF content in LPD muscle were higher than those in NPD and LPOB muscle. The LT muscle in LPD group contained a higher percentage of oleic acid (C18:1n-9) and a lower percentage of linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) than those in NPD group. Dietary LPOB improved oxidative stability, total superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase but decreased drip loss in LT muscle.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that growing-finishing pigs fed with a low-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet show a high content of intramuscular fat in the longissimus thoracis muscle. Dietary LPOB enhances the anti-oxidative status by improving antioxidative capacity but deteriorates the sensory attributes by decreasing IMF content of meat.

Highlights

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in food containing appropriately high concentration of intramuscular fat (IMF) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)
Exp 2 Compared with the low protein diet (LPD) group, the normal protein diet (NPD) and LPOB group showed a lower (P < 0.05) b*45min
There was a tendency to decrease (P = 0.078) marbling score of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle in pigs fed LPOB diet compared to dietary LPD

Summary

Introduction

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in food containing appropriately high concentration of intramuscular fat (IMF) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of adding oregano essential oil (OEO) and benzoic acid (BA) to low-protein, amino acid-supplemented diets on meat quality, sensory profile, fatty acid composition, and lipid oxidation of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle in pigs. Besides the IMF amounts, consumers are becoming increasingly interested in food containing high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). A reduced protein diet promoted pork with higher IMF percentage which was more monounsaturated and less polyunsaturated even when balanced with essential amino acids [2, 8]. The lipid oxidation in muscle is a major deterioration of nutritional and sensory properties of meat and meat products [11]

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