Abstract
Twenty Beni-Guil-PGI female lambs were used to study the effects of rearing season on meat quality characteristics, fatty acids profile, and lipid content. The animals were reared according to the pastoral-transhumant system in the eastern region of Morocco. The treatments consisted of 10 female lambs reared in summer-autumn (SA) and slaughtered at winter season and 10 female lambs reared in winter-spring (WS) and slaughtered at spring season. After the slaughter, the longissimus lumborum was collected for each animal for meat quality analysis. Compared to lambs reared in SA, the meat from the WS group showed higher ( p < 0.01 ) pH, chroma, and lightness values (5.79 vs. 5.72, 23.97 vs. 18.46, and 47.03 vs. 41.04, respectively). On the other hand, the meat from WS presented higher ( p < 0.05 ) intramuscular fat content (5.14 % vs. 3.82%, respectively). However, the intramuscular fat of the lambs reared in SA was characterized by greater ( p < 0.01 ) PUFA percentage (16.82% vs. 12.40%, respectively), thrombogenic ( p < 0.001 ) and atherogenic index ( p < 0.001 ), and PUFA/SFA ratio ( p < 0.01 ; 0.42 vs. 0.25, respectively). Nevertheless, those reared in WS season have a higher ( p < 0.001 ) PUFA n − 3 (2.58% vs. 1.14%, respectively) content, and therefore favorable ( p < 0.001 ) n − 6/n − 3 ratio (3.78 vs. 12.98, respectively).
Highlights
In the last decade, with the increasing emphasis on organic food and sustainable agriculture, the use and exploitation of local breeds have received particular attention
According to the natural reproduction cycle, lambs are generally born in winter and are kept in a sheepfold and breastfed by their mothers only at night until spring, because the climatic conditions are not favorable for newborn lambs to be outdoors. e availability of pasture changes according to the season. ere are two major peaks in sheep feeding change which are winter (December-January) and spring (March-April). erefore, we hypothesized that the season affects the meat quality characteristics. e aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of the rearing season on meat quality of Beni-Guil sheep breed
E choice of female lambs was made randomly from the same breeders in the same region in the two seasons. e female lambs were 6 months old, weaned at the age of 3 months, of the L category specific to sheep under 12 months of age according to the European Commission regulation no. 823/98. e slaughtered animals weighed 35.50 ± 1.94 kg for SA lambs and 35.96 ± 2.13 kg for WS lambs. e average fattening state corresponds to a score of 4 according to the fatness community scale (1: very low–5: very high) for the classification of sheep carcasses EUROP and to the conformation of R class according to the conformation scale EUROP (P: poor–E: excellent) [6, 7]
Summary
Effect of Rearing Season on Meat and Intramuscular Fat Quality of Beni-Guil Sheep. The intramuscular fat of the lambs reared in SA was characterized by greater (p < 0.01) PUFA percentage (16.82% vs 12.40%, respectively), thrombogenic (p < 0.001) and atherogenic index (p < 0.001), and PUFA/SFA ratio (p < 0.01; 0.42 vs 0.25, respectively). Those reared in WS season have a higher (p < 0.001) PUFA n − 3 (2.58% vs 1.14%, respectively) content, and favorable (p < 0.001) n − 6/n − 3 ratio (3.78 vs 12.98, respectively)
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