The fatty acid profile of muscle tissue of ram lambs with diverse genotypes.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the fatty acid profile of intramuscular fat for genetically diverse sheep breeds kept in the same environmental and feeding conditions. The study was conducted on 30 (15 in each breed) wrzosówka and zelazneńska ram lambs slaughtered at 23-25 kg of life weight. The meat samples for analysis were taken from longissimus lumborum muscle. The meat of wrzosówka ram lambs contained almost twofold less (P < or = 0.01) intramuscular fat compared to zelazneńska sheep. Lower (P < or = 0.05) total of SFA and higher (P < or = 0.05) MUFA content in muscle tissue of wrzos6wka sheep was shown. The predominant monounsaturated acid was oleic acid which amounted to almost 90% of all MUFA. The activity of enzyme Delta9 desaturase evidenced by the higher values of C14:1/C14:0, C18:1/Cl8:0 (P < or = 0.01) and C16:1/C16:0 (P < or = 0.05) indices was also recorded for wrzos6wka ram lambs. The UFA/SFA (P < or = 0.05) and MUFA/SFA (P < or = 0.05) ratios as well as the value of the trombogenic index (TI) (P < or = 0.05) were more favourable in muscle tissue for wrzos6wka than zelazneńska rams lambs. Therefore, the meat from leaner animals is more beneficial for human health.