No abstract

Linseed, a source of linolenic acid, is used in ruminant diets to increase polyunsaturated fatty acids (FA) in animal products. Seed processing is known to have an impact on FA rumen metabolism, but few data are available for linseed. We studied the effect of linseed lipid on ruminal metabolism and intestinal digestibility in cows. Three modes of linseed processing: rolled linseed (RL), extruded linseed (EL) and linseed oil plus linseed meal (LO), supplemented at 7.5% of DM intake, were compared to a control diet (C). Duodenal flows, intestinal digestibility and plasma composition were determined. The duodenal flow of linolenic acid was similar among diets. The sum of t10 and t11-18:1, which were coeluted, was increased with lipid-supplemented diets and represented more than 60% of trans 18:1 for EL and LO diets. The main 18:2 isomers were c9, c12 and t11, c15 among the non-conjugated isomers, and t11, t13 among CLA. Linseed supplementation increased the duodenal flow of unsaturated intermediates of biohydrogenation, and this effect was more pronounced for extruded seeds and oil than for rolled seeds. For most 18-carbon FA, intestinal digestibility was slightly higher for C and LO diets than for RL and EL. Plasma concentrations of non-conjugated 18:2 and linolenic acid were similar among the lipid-supplemented diets. Within diet, profiles of 18:1 isomers (except c9) remained very similar between duodenal and plasma FA.

BACKGROUND The present study aimed to identify relationships between components of intramuscular connective tissue, proportions of the different fiber types, intramuscular fat and sensory tenderness of beef cooked at 55 °C. Accordingly, four muscles differing in their metabolic and contractile properties, as well as in their collagen content and butcher value, were obtained from dairy and beef cattle of several ages and sexes and were then used to create variability. RESULTS Correlation analyses and/or stepwise regressions were applied on Z‐scores to identify the existing and robust associations. Tenderness scores were further categorized into tender, medium and tough classes using unsupervised learning methods. The findings revealed a muscle‐dependant role with respect to tenderness of total and insoluble collagen, cross‐links, and type IIB + X and IIA muscle fibers. The longissimus thoracis and semitendinosus muscles that, in the present study, were found to be extreme in their tenderness potential were also very different from each other and from the rectus abdominis (RA) and semimembranosus (SM). RA and SM muscles were very similar regarding their relationship for muscle components and tenderness. A relationship between marbling and tenderness was only present when the results were analysed irrespective of all factors of variation of the experimental model relating to muscle and animal type. CONCLUSION The statistical approaches applied in the present study using Z‐scores allowed identification of the robust associations between muscle components and sensory beef tenderness and also identified discriminatory variables of beef tenderness classes. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Eighty eight lambs were used in a 2×2 factorial arrangement 1) to investigate the effect of maternal dietary linseed supplementation and/or lamb linseed supplemented concentrate on growth performance, carcass fat quality and fatty acid (FA) composition of muscle and dorsal adipose tissue of indoor lambs 2) to study the relationships between subcutaneous fat quality and FA composition. Feeding linseed to ewes increased C18:3 n-3 (ALA) proportion in milk and therefore the ALA supply to suckling lambs. However, ALA and n-3 polyunsaturated FA (n-3 PUFA) proportions in lamb tissues were not affected. Feeding linseed to lambs during the post-weaning period significantly increased the proportions of ALA and n-3 PUFA in tissues. Softer and more colored fat was associated with a decrease in even medium-chain saturated FA and increases in odd and methyl FA proportions but not with ALA proportion in subcutaneous adipose tissue.

Intramuscular connective tissue (IMCT) is mainly composed of several fibrils (known as total collagen (TCol)) linked between each other by different chemical cross-links (CLs), the whole being embedded in a matrix of proteoglycans (PGs). In the field of beef quality, there is limited information on the role of CLs and PGs. Accordingly, several authors suggest that, to investigate the role of IMCT, it is important to investigate them just like TCol and insoluble collagen (ICol). In muscle, there are two other components, the muscle fibres and intramuscular fat (IMF) content. There are limited data on the relationships between these three components of muscle and then on possibility to independently manipulate these characteristics in order to control the final quality of meat. The present study aimed to investigate whether consistent relationships exist between these different components of muscle. Therefore, the present study compared four muscles of two cattle types (dairy and beef) to determine associations between TCol, ICol, CLs and PGs. Data were analysed across and within muscle (M) and animal type (AT) based on residuals. There was a strong M and AT effect for all muscle characteristics and an interaction M × AT for type I muscle fibres and IMF. Correlations between TCol, ICol and their CLs were M- and AT-independent. Total proteoglycans were positively correlated with TCol and ICol in a muscle-dependent manner irrespective of AT, but no correlation was found with CLs. On the contrary, CLs were negatively correlated with the ratio TPGs : TCol in an M-dependent manner, irrespective of AT. TCol, ICol and CLs were positively and negatively correlated with type IIA and IIB+X muscle fibres only in longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle, regardless the AT. Insoluble collagen was the only parameter of IMCT to be correlated with type I muscle fibres but only in LT muscle, irrespective of AT. There was no correlation between PGs and muscle fibre types, but PGs were the only IMCT component to be related with IMF in an M-dependent manner, irrespective of AT. Finally, there was no correlation between muscle fibre types and IMF content within M and AT. This study revealed that there is a strong relationship between IMCT components irrespective of M, an M-dependent relationship between the IMCT components and muscle fibre types and few (only with PGs) or no relationship between IMF and IMCT and muscle fibres.