Fatty acid composition of goat diets vs intramuscular fat

Twenty Boer x Spanish goats, at the age range of 90-118 days, were assigned to two dietary treatments, with 10 animals fed a grain ration (G) and the other 10 grazed in rangeland. The grain ration contained sorghum grain (67.5%), cottonseed hulls, dehydrated alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, soybean meal, molasses, and mineral and vitamin supplements. Animals were slaughtered at the age range of 206-234 days. Intramuscular fat (IF) and the diet specimens - representative samples of G and the parts of range plants (RPs) that goats were expected to have consumed - were analyzed for fatty acid composition. The percentage of 16:0 was higher in RPs than in G, but not different between IF from range goats and that from grain-fed goats. Total unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) percentage was higher in G than in RPs. The major UFAs were 18:2 and 18:3 in RPs, and 18:1 and 18:2 in G. In IF, 18:1 constituted more than two-thirds of UFAs, regardless of diet type.