Effects of an enriched housing environment on sensory aspects and fatty-acid composition of the longissimus muscle of light-weight finished lambs.
We analysed the effect of enriched housing on the sensory meat quality and fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle in 60 entire Rasa Aragonesa lambs, housed indoors for 5 weeks in six pens (10 lambs/pen, 0.95 m(2)/lamb, initial weight 17.13±0.18 kg and carcass mean 12.23±0.23 kg); three control pens (barren) and three enriched pens (straw, platform with ramps and a small ramp). The final weight, carcass weight, fatness scores and cooking losses of meat from enriched lambs (EG) were higher and pH 24 was lower (P ≤ 0.05). The EG lambs had more C18:0 and total SFA (P ≤ 0.05). Lamb odour and grass odour were more intense in EG (P ≤ 0.05). Overall liking was higher for EG (P ≤ 0.05) and associated with tenderness (P ≤ 0.0001). The results suggest that environmental enrichment can have effects on fatty acid composition and sensory meat quality.
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zaragoza, Spain. Electronic address: laguayo@unizar.es.
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Aguayo-Ulloa
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
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Pascual-Alonso
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
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Campo
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zaragoza, Spain.
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Olleta
Department of Animal Science, E.T.S.I.A. Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain.
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Villarroel
Peruvian University of Cayetano Heredia, Peru.
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Pizarro
Group of Animal Welfare and Sustainable Production, Department of Food Science, Metropolitan Autonomous University, UAM-Lerma, State of Mexico, Mexico.
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Miranda-de la Lama
Department of Animal Production and Food Science, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zaragoza, Spain. Electronic address: levrino@unizar.es.
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María
D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D001835:Body Weight; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003296:Cooking; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000032:analysis*; D004777:Environment; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D009812:Odorants; D034561:Sheep, Domestic; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids
Environmental enrichment; Fatty acid composition; Intensive lamb production; Meat quality; Sensory evaluation