Effects of dietary greasy babassu byproduct on nutrient utilization, meat quality, and fatty acid composition in abomasal digesta and meat from lambs

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of increasing levels of the greasy babassu byproduct (GBB) in the diet of lambs on the fatty acid (FA) profile of abomasal digesta content, meat quality traits, and meat FA profile. Twenty-eight crossbred Dorper × Santa Inês growing lambs (20.6 ± 4.1 kg of initial body weight and 145 ± 12 days old) were fed one of four experimental diets as dry matter (DM): 1) basal diet (i.e. without the GBB, CON), 2) basal diet with 50 g/kg GBB (50GBB), 3) basal diet with 100 g/kg GBB (100GBB) and, 4) basal diet with 150 g/kg GBB (150 GBB). The animals (experimental unit) were distributed in a randomized design, 4 treatments and 7 replications of each treatment. The GBB addition increased the DM intake linearly but decreased nutrient utilization, resulting in no changes in metabolizable energy intake and consequently, growth performance. Meat chemical composition, physical traits, and sensory evaluation were not affected by diet. The GBB diet increased the abomasal contents of 10:0, 12:0 and 14:0 and tended to decrease 18:0, appointing for the negative interference on the rumen biohydrogenation (BH) of 18:2 n–6 and 18:3 n–3. The changes in the abomasal FA content did not affect the meat FA profile, except for a slight increment of 12:0, with increasing dietary GBB. Thus GBB, up to 150 g/kg of dietary DM, can be used as an alternative energy source for lambs, promoting slight changes in FA abomasal contents and rumen BH, without modifying growth performance, meat quality, and meat FA composition.