Meat production characteristics of Turkish native breeds: II. meat quality, fatty acid, and cholesterol profile of lambs.

Mehmet Kuran,Uğur Şen,Emre Şirin,Yüksel Aksoy,Zafer Ulutaş,Alper Önenç,Mustafa Uğurlu,Ümran Çiçek

doi:10.5194/aab-62-41-2019

Abstract

The study conducted a comparison of meat quality, fatty acid profile, and cholesterol amounts of longissimus dorsi (LD) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles of male lambs born to Turkish indigenous sheep breeds raised under intensive conditions. A total of 36 singleton male lambs were used as experimental animals of the Akkaraman (A), Morkaraman (M), Awassi (IW), Karayaka (KR), Kıvırcık (KV), and Middle Anatolian Merino (MAM) pure breeds. All lambs were fed the same diet until they reached a target weight of 40 kg weight. After the feeding period, all lambs were slaughtered and LD and ST muscle samples were collected to determine meat quality traits, fatty acid profile, and cholesterol amounts. Although there were no significant differences between lambs in terms of the fatty acid profile of LD and ST muscles, KR lambs had a higher cholesterol content in both muscles in comparison with the lambs born to other breeds (). While water-holding capacity, dripping loss, pH, color, dry matter, ash, and intramuscular fat values of ST muscles showed differences among breeds (), dripping loss, pH, cooking loss, color, dry matter, ash, protein, and intramuscular fat values of LD muscles differed between breeds (). The data of the current study indicated that meat quality characteristics and cholesterol contents of Turkish indigenous breeds showed differences, and these differences may be used for alternative lamb meat production for the consumer.

Highlights

Fat content and sensory quality traits such as tenderness, flavor, and color of lamb meat are very important issues when buying or consuming lamb meat (Sirin et al, 2017)
Akkaraman (A), Morkaraman (M), and Awassi (IW), which are classified as fat-tail breeds, and Karayaka (KR), Kıvırcık (KV), and Middle Anatolian Merino (MAM), which are classified as thin-tail breeds, are commonly raised indigenous sheep breeds, which are well suited to a variety of harsh geographic and climatic conditions
They constitute approximately 80 % of the sheep population in Turkey (TurkStat, 2016). Male lambs of these breeds are used as fattening material for meat production, and they constitute an important source of red meat production under harsh climate conditions (Sirin et al, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Fat content and sensory quality traits such as tenderness, flavor, and color of lamb meat are very important issues when buying or consuming lamb meat (Sirin et al, 2017). Akkaraman (A), Morkaraman (M), and Awassi (IW), which are classified as fat-tail breeds, and Karayaka (KR), Kıvırcık (KV), and Middle Anatolian Merino (MAM), which are classified as thin-tail breeds, are commonly raised indigenous sheep breeds, which are well suited to a variety of harsh geographic and climatic conditions. They constitute approximately 80 % of the sheep population in Turkey (TurkStat, 2016). Male lambs of these breeds are used as fattening material for meat production, and they constitute an important source of red meat production under harsh climate conditions (Sirin et al, 2017)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion