Abstract
The enhancement of health-beneficial omega-3 long–chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 LC-PUFA) contents in the muscle, liver, heart, and kidney of Australian prime lambs through pasture grazing and supplementation with oil infused pellets was investigated. Forty-eight first-cross prime lambs were randomly assigned into a split-plot design with pasture type as the main plot effect and pellet supplementation as a sub-plot effect in a feeding trial that lasted for nine weeks. The n-3 LC-PUFA content in Longissimus dorsi muscle of all lambs was well above the 30 mg threshold for “omega-3 source” nutrition claim under the Australian Food Standards and Guidelines. Pasture type impacted the fatty acid contents in muscle, heart, and kidney of prime lambs. Lambs grazing cocksfoot grass only had high 18:3n-3 (ALA) and n-3 LC-PUFA contents (67.1 mg/100 g and 55.2 mg/100 g, respectively) in the Longissimus dorsi muscle, which was not significantly different (p > 0.8990) from the contents of lambs grazing only lucerne. Supplementation of pellets with or without oil infusion to grazing lambs generally decreased the ALA and n-3 LC-PUFA contents and increased the n-6/n-3 ratio in the Longissimus dorsi muscle. The fatty acid content in the internal organs of grazing lambs was also affected by pellet supplementation. The liver and kidney of grazing lambs were both “good sources” (60 mg/100 g) of omega-3. The cocksfoot grass showed considerable potential for producing healthy, premium quality meat with high contents of n-3 and n-3 LC-PUFA, which may consequently enhance the omega-3 intake of Australian lamb consumers.
Highlights
Research on increasing the content of n-3 long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3LC-PUFA) in red meat has gained considerable attention because of their beneficial impact on human health
Lambs grazing on cocksfoot cv. porto or lucerne pastures only had similar ALA content
The results of Nguyen et al [32] demonstrated that there was no significant difference between liver FA profiles of 5% canola oil pellet-fed and control lambs in an indoor feeding system. This current study clearly demonstrated that supplementation with no oil pellets (NOP) and canola oil infused pellets (CO) tended to increase the ALA content in the liver of cocksfoot cv. porto grazing lambs
Summary
LC-PUFA) in red meat has gained considerable attention because of their beneficial impact on human health. Many researchers have reported that n-3 fatty acids have therapeutic and protective effects on many types of cancers (breast, colorectal, leukaemia, gastric, pancreatic, oesophageal, prostate, lung, colon, head, and neck) [4,5,6,7]. Against the increasing recognition of health benefits derived from increased n-3 fatty acid consumption, recent studies have generally revealed that consumers do not obtain sufficient n-3. The findings of Pittaway et al [9] showed that most healthy older adults in Tasmania, Australia, who participated in the observational study were unlikely to meet the recommended daily intake of 0.5 g EPA and DHA combined, without the use of fish oil supplements. Nichols et al [10] found that future supplies of the beneficial n-3
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