Longissimus Muscle Fatty Acid Profile of Lambs Fed Diets Containing Babassu Oil or Buriti Oil

Brazil has a great potential for vegetable oils production. Babassu (Orbignya phalerata Mart.) and buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) are examples of important species found between Amazon rain forest and Cerrado biomes, whose oils have applications in the food and feed industries. Babassu is one of the most important palm trees in Brazil, especially in Maranhão state, and its oil represents 65% of the seed and is rich in medium chain saturated fatty acids (FA). Buriti oil is extracted from the fruit of the Buriti palm tree and is rich in monounsaturated FA and natural antioxidants. Twenty one lambs (initial BW 18.9 ± 3.8 kg) were used in a complete randomized block design to determine the effects of adding babassu oil or buriti oil to the diet on Longissimus muscle (LM) FA profile. Lambs were penned individually for 50 d and fed one of three diets: C - control diet containing 70% concentrate and 30% Tifton 85 hay; BA – control diet plus 40 g/kg of babassu oil; BU – control diet plus 40g/kg of buriti oil. At the end of feeding trial lambs were slaughtered and LM samples collected for total lipid determination and FA analysis by gas chromatography. Means were compared using Tukey method (P < 0.05). The total FA content of LM was higher (P<0.05) for BU than for BA, which was similar to the control (98, 80 and 129 mg/g DM respectively for C, BA and BU). The proportions of medium chain FA (i.e. 12:0 and 14:0), trans-MUFA and total biohydrogenation intermediates were increased (P<0.05) with BA when compared to C and BU, whereas C and BU did not differ. The sum of trans-MUFA was 1.1, 3.8 and 1.5 % for C, BA and BU, respectively. The increase of trans-MUFA was explained mostly the t10-18:1 (0.2, 2.6 and 0.4% of total FA for C, BA and BU), and thus the t10-/t11-18:1 ratio was greatly increased with BA (0.6, 6.0 and 1.2 respectively for C, BA and BU). On the other hand, BA reduced the cis-MUFA compared to C and BU (48.5, 39.9 and 47.6% for C, BA and BU). The BA increased total PUFA compared to BU but not to C. However, this increase in PUFA was mostly explained by the differences in total FA content of muscle. Concluding, FA profile of LM from lambs was greatly modified by BA in contrast to the mild effects of BU.