Influence of frozen storage on the fatty acid composition of ostrich meat enriched with linseed and rapeseed

CITATION: Horbanczuk, J. O. et al. 2015. Influence of frozen storage on the fatty acid composition of ostrich meat enriched with linseed and rapeseed. South African Journal of Animal Science, 45(2):129-136, doi:10.4314/sajas.v45i2.3.The original publication is available at http://www.sasas.co.za/journalsThe aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the duration (24 hours, 60 days and 120 days) of frozen storage (−20 ºC) on the fatty acid composition of meat from ostriches supplemented with linseed and rapeseed. The study was carried out on muscles of 40 ostriches raised on five dietary groups: control with no supplementation (C), with 4% linseed (L4); 8% linseed (L8); and 5% rapeseed (R5); or 10% rapeseed (R10) in the diet. As the frozen storage period increased, the fatty acid profile of the ostrich meat in all the “enriched” groups changed, especially treatments L4 and L8. There was a decrease in the polyunsaturated fatty acid content (especially from 61 to 120 days of storage) including linolenic, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids. However, storage did not influence the fatty acid profile of ostrich meat up to 60 days. These results suggest that freezing is an acceptable method for preserving ostrich meat (up to 60 days), causing only a small decrease in the fatty acids of ostrich meat enriched with n-3 fatty acids. However, further research on prolonged frozen storage is recommended.http://www.sasas.co.za/influence-frozen-storage-fatty-acid-composition-ostrich-meat-enriched-linseed-and-rapeseedPublisher's versio

The effect of slaughter weight on the carcass characteristics of pork with sex type as co-variable

A study was conducted with 192 pigs of three sex types with treatments according to slaughter weight (65 kg to 144 kg). The main statistical differences observed were for slaughter weight with significant (P < 0.05) and highly significant (P < 0.01) differences describing more than 10% of variance observed for all characteristics (liveweight, warm carcass weight, dressing percentage, eye muscle area, subcutaneous fat thickness, intramuscular fat area, subcutaneous fat:eye muscle area, intramuscular fat:eye muscle area, fat thickness, muscle depth, carcass length, ham circumference, ham length and chest depth) measured. Sex differences (P < 0.05) were also observed for dressing percentage, fat measurements and muscle depth measured between the 5th and 6th lumbar vertebrae. Sex type differences, in all instances, accounted for 10% or less variance except for subcutaneous fat:eye muscle area ratio (18.47%). It was shown that although significant sex type differences (P < 0.05) existed; slaughter weight had the largest effect on carcass characteristics in the given circumstances accounting for most of the observed variance