'Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)'
Abstract
The aim of this work was to improve the fatty acid profile of meat from light lamb, frequently reared in Spain and in
other Mediterranean countries. A total of 44 light lambs fed different n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids sources were
studied: control (C) (palm oil), extruded linseed (L), extruded linseed mixed with microalgae (LM) and fish oil (FO).
The productive performance from 14.7 to 26.2 kg of live weights and meat quality characteristics during refrigerated
storage were assessed. Lambs fed FO showed lower feed intake (p < 0.001), average daily gain (p < 0.001) and higher
feed conversion ratio (p < 0.001) than lambs from the other treatments. Fish oil meat had the lowest (p < 0.01) protein
proportion and the highest (p < 0.001) C20:5n-3, C22:5n-3 and C22:6n-3 proportions, while L or LM produced the
highest (p < 0.001) C18:3n-3 deposition. Fish oil meat had higher (p < 0.05) L* and lower (p < 0.001) a* than meats
from the other treatments. After 7 days of storage, FO meat showed the highest TBARS (p < 0.001), while C meat showed
similar value to 0 days of storage. Additionally, FO underwent higher microbial growth after 7 days of storage as compared
to the other treatments. Dietary supplementation with L and LM leads to C18:3n-3 meat enrichment and to a microbial
load and colour characteristics similar to those of C, without adverse effect on lamb performance. However the use of
FO improves the fatty acid profile of meat, but negatively affects lamb performance and meat qualit