Fatty acid composition of beef steers as affected by diet and fat depot

Abstract

Subcutaneous and perirenal fatty acid (FA) profiles were compared in steers fed a control diet (70 : 30 red clover silage (RC) : barley concentrate), a diet with sunflower seed (SS) substituted for barley, and diets with 15% or 30% wheat dried distillers’ grain with solubles (DDGS-15 and DDGS-30) substituted for RC and SS. Perirenal fat (PRF) versus subcutaneous fat (SCF) had greater proportions of total saturated FA (SFA) and branched chain FA (BCFA), and lower proportions of total and major cis-monounsaturated FA (c-MUFA). Addition of SS to the diet did not change the proportions of total and major c-MUFA and n-6 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA), but led to decreases in the proportions of total and major SFA, BCFA and n-3 PUFA. Progressive substitutions with DDGS led to no further changes in the proportions of total and major SFA and n-3 PUFA, but decreased the proportions of BCFA and c9-16:1, and increased the proportions of c9-18:1 and n-6 PUFA. Feeding SS and DDGS-15 diets yielded the largest proportions of total and major t-18:1 (t11- and t13-/t14-18:1) isomers in PRF and conjugated lineolic acid (CLA) isomers (t7, c9- and t9, c11-18:2) in SCF, but responses were diminished when feeding the DDGS-30 diet. Subcutaneous fat versus PRF from steers fed SS and DGGS diets had larger proportions of non-conjugated 18:2 biohydrogenation products (i.e. atypical dienes) than the control diet. Overall, feeding SS and DDGS-15 diets raised the proportions of t11- 18:1 in PRF and c9, t11-18:2 in SCF, which have potential human health benefits, but feeding DDGS-30 was less effective.

Keywords: Beef, rumenic acid, vaccenic acid