Fatty acid composition and oxidative stability of muscles in lambs fed coconut oil supplemented diet

T. Popova

Abstract: A study with 10 male lambs of Bulgarian dairy synthetic population was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary coconut oil supplementation on the lipid components, fatty acid composition and oxidative stability during storage in m. Longissimus dorsi and m. Semimembranosus. Dietary coconut oil supplementation did not induce significant changes in the amount of lipid components in both muscles. Triacylglycerols of m. Longissimus dorsi and m. Semimembranosus in the lambs from the group fed coconut oil supplemented diet had significantly higher content of C14:0 and C16:0 (P<0.01; P<0.05) and lower amount of C17:0 (P<0.01). The differences in the phospholipid fatty acid composition of the studied muscles were due to both diet and muscle type. Coconut oil supplementation increased significantly the amount of C16:1 (P<0.05) and lowered that of C17:0 and C22:5 (P<0.05; P<0.01). The content of C20:4 (P<0.05) and the total amount of PUFA was higher (P<0.05) in m. Semimebranosus in the control and coconut oil supplemented group of lambs, compared to m. Longissimus dorsi. The oil oxidative stability of both m. Longissimus dorsi and m. Semimebranosus was influenced by the time of storage whereas no significant effect of the dietary coconut oil supplementation was observed.

Keywords: coconut oil; fatty acids; lambs; muscles; oxidation

Date published: 2019-10-09