No abstract

The meat of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) as obtained in Lithuania contained 21.4% crude protein with high amounts of glutamic acid (152.6 mg/g), aspartic acid (87.6 mg/g), lysine (81.8 mg/g), leucine (75.7 mg/g), arginine (60.4 mg/g), and isoleucine (60.1 mg/g). This meat could be a high quality protein source because of its well-balanced essential amino acid composition. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were predominant with a percentage of 41.58% in thighs and of 42.12% in the fat depot of tails. Hexadecanoic acid (C16:0) was the dominant fatty acid in thigh muscles, followed by octadecadienoic (C18:2n-6), octadecenoic (C18:1), and octadecatrienoic (C18:3n-3) acids with the percentages 23.05, 22.66, 22.28, and 12.40, respectively. In the tail lipids, the dominant fatty acid was C18:1, followed by C18:3n-3 and C18:2n-6, and C16:0 with the percentages 31.72, 21.87, 18.53, and 12.96, respectively. With predominant polyunsaturated fatty acids and an n-6/n-3 PUFA value 2.1, beaver meat could be n-3 PUFA-rich food in human diets.

The aim of the present study was to identify the conservation status of Lithuanian local Vištinės goose breed and evaluate the carcass and meat quality characteristics in the breast and thigh depending on the sex. The status of the Lithuanian Vištinės goose breed was evaluated by monitoring of the birds, which are included in the breeding system. Twenty geese from the nucleus flock at the age of 10 weeks and reared using a commercial concentrate diet ad libitum were used for the carcass and meat quality evaluation. Due to fluctuations in the numbers of geese and reproduction of purebred birds on a largest scale from the nucleus flock, the status of Vištinės goose population remains critical-maintained. The difference in the live body weight between males and females was insignificant, whereas males showed higher carcass weight (p < 0.05), including the weight of breast, wings, thighs and neck. The sex did not affect the meat quality parameters, but the anatomical location of muscles has appeared to show a high effect. Thigh muscles had lower (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively) protein and cholesterol, and higher (p < 0.001) intramuscular fat contents compared with the breast. Thigh muscles also showed higher (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively) pH and EZ drip loss, but lower (p < 0.001) cooking loss compared with the breast. The breast was characterized by a higher (p < 0.001) shear of force and toughness with Warner–Bratzler test and higher (p < 0.001) hardness detected by texture profile analysis (TPA) compared with the thigh. Breast lipids had higher (p < 0.001) proportion of total saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, whereas the thigh was characterized by a higher proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids. Atherogenic (AI) and thrombogenic (TI) indexes were higher (p < 0.001) and hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic (h/H) ratio was lower (p < 0.001) and less favourable in the breast compared with the thigh. Despite the muscle type differences, goose meat of the local conserved breed exhibited good quality and expected enhancing impact on consumer health.

The objective of this study was to determine the relationships between intramuscular fat, cholesterol contents and fatty acid composition in the muscles of different animal species. Intramuscular fat, cholesterol and fatty acid composition in 207 muscle samples from 129 animals of different species (pigs, beef cattle, farmed red deer, horses and geese) were determined and analysed. The obtained results indicated unequal relations between intramuscular fat and cholesterol contents and fatty acid proportions in the muscles of different animal species. The increase of intramuscular fat content resulted in higher monounsaturated and lower polyunsaturated fatty acid contents in most muscles of meat producing animals. In all the species higher fatness did not show any increase in cholesterol content and also cholesterol contents were lower as fat increased in m. semimembranosus of pigs and m. pectoralis profundus of horses. The cholesterol content positively correlated with saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in the longissimus muscle with the lowest fat content found in red deer and beef cattle, whereas the correlations between these measures were negative in m. pectoralis profundus of horses and the breast of goose containing high fat levels. Negative correlations between polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol content were found in the longissimus muscle of red deer and cattle, whereas these correlations in goose breast and horse meat were positive.

The objective of the study was to assess the influence of gender, age, and carcass weight on the properties of meat from adult horses slaughtered in Lithuania. M. pectoralis profundus of twenty-six obsolescent horses from 3 to 21 years of age were used in the experiment. Gender appeared to affect the horse meat properties. Stallions demonstrated (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively) lower content of dry matter and also considerably lower (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01) intramuscular fat content compared with mares and geldings and higher (p < 0.01) cholesterol content compared with mares. The meat of stallions showed the highest pH; however, a significant (p < 0.01) difference was obtained only in comparison with mares. Meat lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) of stallions were lower (p < 0.05) compared with geldings. Meat toughness of stallions was also lower (p < 0.01) than the meat of mares and geldings. The highest (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively) proportion of total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), higher (p < 0.05) and more favorable PUFA/SFA ratio, and also the highest (p < 0.05) but least favorable n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio, were detected in the muscles of stallions compared with mares and geldings. The differences in horse ages did not exhibit any effect on the properties of M. pectoralis profundus. Despite the age differences at the decline of horse life, the properties of the horse meat exhibited good quality and showed that horse meat is potentially highly beneficial to human health.