Effects of weaning and finishing feeding treatment on fatty acids, especially cis and trans C18:1 isomers, in the Longissimus thoracis muscle of Galician Blond calves

Abstract

Seven-to 10-month-old calves are the typical production of Galician Blond (GB), the most important bovine local beef breed in Spain. As meat lipid repercussions on human health depend on their fatty acid (FA) profile, this study aimed at analysing the individual FA at weaning and at the end of the feeding finishing period, especially trans and cis 18:1 isomers in total lipids of the Longissimus thoracis muscle in GB male calves. Distribution of main FA in veal lipids was characterized by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) analysis on a high polar glass capillary column. Total trans and cis 18:1 isomers were purified, from total FA (TFA) methyl esters, by preparative reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, to allow subsequent specific analysis of their different isomers by GLC. Calves stayed with their mothers at pasture for 2 or 5 months in intensive or semi-extensive systems, followed by an indoor feeding period. The weaned (W) group was finished on concentrate and hay, whereas the non-weaned (NW) group was finished on concentrate and hay and it continued suckling until slaughter. The studied effects did not present interactions. The duration of the indoor finishing period hardly had a significant influence on the parameters analysed. Compared to W calves, NW calves had higher proportions (% TFA) of 18:3n-3 (138%, P , 0.0001), 20:5n-3 (122%, P 5 0.005), 22:5n-3 (113%, P 5 0.042), cis monounsaturated FA (MUFA; 18%, P 5 0.032), total MUFA (18%, P 5 0.013), n-3 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA; 125%, P 5 0.0001) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; 148%, P , 0.0001) to the detriment of 18:0 (210%, P 5 0.002), 18:2n-6 (225%, P 5 0.004) and n-6 PUFA (220%, P 5 0.011). With regard to cis and trans 18:1 isomers, NW calves had higher proportions (% total cis or trans 18:1) of D11trans and D16trans (125% and 122%, respectively, P , 0.01) and D13 1 14trans (113%, P , 0.05) and lower proportions of D6 to 8 and D10trans (228% and 58%, respectively, P , 0.001). NW calves' meat might be more suitable for human health than W calves' meat due to the increase of anti-atherogenous FA such as n-3 PUFA, CLA and 18:1 D11trans.

Meat quality of veal: Discriminatory ability of weaning status

“…Similar values were found for this ratio by other authors Blanco et al, 2008Blanco et al, , 2009Bispo et al, 2010aBispo et al, , 2011.…”

“…Regarding SFA, fewer percentages of these FAs were found by other authors Bispo et al, 2011) in other calves. According to the statistical analysis, significant differences (p < 0.05) were found among groups in the less abundant SFA (C15:0, C17:0 and C21:0) but these minority acids were in all cases < 3% of total intramuscular fat.…”

“…Unlike other authors, no significant differences (p > 0.05) were found among groups for this FA. Therefore, oleic acid was not discriminant in this case, since it was normally most abundant in milk-fed calves Blanco et al, 2009;Bispo et al, 2010aBispo et al, , 2011. Higher values of this fatty acid (41.34% vs. mean values of 33.17% in the present work) were found in cull cows (Pateiro et al, 2012a).…”

“…In this case, no significant differences (p > 0.05) were found between animals, which were reflected in similar values for this FA. The effect of weaning status on linoleic and linolenic acids contents were also evaluated by other authors (Bispo et al, 2010a(Bispo et al, , 2011 who reported that amount of linoleic acid was higher in weaned animals, while linolenic acid presented higher values in unweaned animals. The influence of diet on FA composition was also previously observed by Varela et al (2004) in pasture finished animals.…”

“…These parameters are considered important as quality indicators and they have an impact on consumer acceptability (Koohmaraie, 1996;Andersen et al, 2005;Mennecke et al, 2007;Dunne et al, 2009). Furthermore, is known that suckling period may cause differences in meat fatty acid (FA) composition (Bispo et al, 2011). Milk consumption has an important influence on the intramuscular fat content (IMF) , because of milk's high energy content, which increases fat deposition in suckling animal.…”