Effects of sunflower cake in lamb diets on meat quality and its fatty acid profile

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effects of sunflower cake (SFC) levels (0, 7, 14, 21 and 28% dry matter) in the diet for feedlot lambs on meat quality and its fatty acid profile. Forty crossbreed non castrated hair lambs were fed with experimental diets through 70 days when they were slaughtered and a Longissimus lumborum section were evaluated for physicochemical quality and fatty acid profile. There were no effects of SFC levels (P > 0.05) on chemical composition of meat, except on moisture (P < 0.05) which was quadratically affected by SFC. The fat thickness (EG) was quadratically affected by SFC level (P < 0.05), but cooking losses, meat pH, shear force, loin eye area were not affected by SFC. The saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), total of unsaturated fatty acids (TUFA) and MUFA: SFA ratio were not affected by the inclusion of SFC (P < 0.05), however, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and PUFA:SFA ratio increased linearly (P < 0.05) while saturated hypercholesterolemic (SHC) were quadratically affected (P < 0.05). The SFC promoted a linear decrease on palmitoleic acid in the meat whereas linoleic, cis-9, trans-11 CLA and trans-10, cis-12 CLA were linearly increased (P < 0.05). Taken together, these data suggest that SFC fed up 28% on dry matter basis in lamb diets do not cause negative effects on meat quality and still promote improvement on its quality in health perspective by increasing CLA content.