title: Stable isotope ratios of blood components and muscle to trace dietary changes in lambs.
abstract: Multielemental stable isotope ratio (SIR) analysis was used in lamb plasma, erythrocytes and muscle to detect the switch from a pasture- to a concentrate-based diet, with the aim of verifying the possibility to trace the change of feeding in animal tissues. During 89 days of experimental feeding, lambs were subjected to four dietary treatments: pasture (P), pasture followed by concentrate in the stall for either 14 days (P-S14) or 37 days (P-S37) or concentrate in the stall (S). Pasture and concentrate diets comprised C3 plants only and had different values of 13C/12C, 18O/16O, 2H/1H and 34S/32S ratios. Muscle 13C/12C and 34S/32S and plasma 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in P, P-S14 and P-S37 lambs were significantly different. A multivariate analytical approach revealed that 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios in plasma were the most powerful variables for the discrimination among the dietary treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department DISPA, Division of Animal Production, University of Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy. lubiondi@unict.it
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: D'Urso
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vasta
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luciano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scerra
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Priolo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ziller
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bontempo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caparra
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Camin
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000097:blood; D004032:Diet; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D007558:Italy; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000662:veterinary; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000097:blood; D012756:Sheep / Q000097:blood*; D013460:Sulfur Isotopes / Q000097:blood; D014316:Tritium / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D013460:Sulfur Isotopes; D014316:Tritium