Extruded linseed and linseed oil as alternative to soybean meal and soybean oil in diets for fattening lambs

The study evaluated the effects of replacing soybean meal and soybean oil respectively with extruded linseed and linseed oil on the productive performances and meat quality traits in lambs slaughtered at 90 days. Lambs weaned at 40 days were divided into 3 groups (N.=10) fed ad libitum for 6 weeks as follows: C (control, commercial feed containing soybean meal and soybean oil); LO (feed containing linseed oil instead of soybean oil); EL (feed containing extruded linseed). Meat quality traits were evaluated on the Longissimus lumborum (Ll) and Semimembranosus (Sm) muscles. The lambs' growth performances and the slaughtering and sectioning data did not differ between groups. The redness of meat was significantly higher (P<0.05) for the LO and EL groups compared to the control for both the muscles tested. Ll meat samples of the EL group showed a greater cooking loss compared to LO (P<0.01) and to the control (P<0.05). The amount of linoleic acid in raw Ll meat samples was significantly (P<0.01) lower in both LO and EL groups with respect to control. The concentration of α-linolenic acid was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the EL group and this positively affected the total content of ω3 as well as the ω6/ω3 ratio