Influence of ewe feeding systems on fatty acid composition of suckling lambs

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of ewe dietary treatments on the intramuscular fatty acid composition of suckling lambs. Twenty-four pregnant Italian Merino ewes were divided into two equal groups. One group (pasture-fed group) was allowed to graze a natural pasture and the other group (stall-fed group) was penned indoors and fed with hay and concentrate. After lambing, all ewes stayed with their respective lambs for the whole experimental period. Lambs were slaughtered at 100 days of age with an average live weight of 20kg. Fatty acid profiles of milk and lamb meat (longissimus lumborum muscle) were analysed. Intramuscular fat from pasture-fed lambs showed higher (P<0.001) proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The percentage of lauric (C12:0; P<0.05), palmitic (C16.0; P<0.001) and oleic (C18.1; P<0.001) fatty acids were higher in the intramuscular fat from stall-fed lambs, whereas pasture-fed lambs showed greater proportions of linolenic (C18:3; P<0.001), eicosapentaenoic (C20:5; P<0.001) and docosapentaenoic (C22:5; P<0.05) fatty acids. Moreover, the intramuscular fat from pasture-fed lambs displayed a higher (P<0.001) PUFA/SFA ratio, and a lower (p<0.001) n-6/n-3 ratio. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) tended to be higher (P=0.07) in the intramuscular fat from pasture-fed lambs. This study confirmed that pasture enhanced the unsaturated fatty acid profile of intramuscular fat in lambs including n-3 fatty acids.