Effects of supplemental soybean oil and vitamin E on carcass quality and fatty acid profiles of meat in Huzhou lamb

This study was conducted to determine the effects of supplemental soybean oil (SBO) and vitamin E (VE) on carcass characteristics, serum metabolites, and fatty acid (FA) composition of longissimus muscle in Huzhou lambs. Totally, 24 male lambs were allocated to three dietary treatments: basal, 3% SBO, and 3% SBO plus 500 mg/kg VE supplemented diet (SOE). No differences were observed in carcass qualities among the three treatments. Contents of serum cholesterol, urea nitrogen, and non-esterified fatty acid increased, while glucose decreased significantly in SBO and SOE groups compared to control (P<0.05). The SBO and SOE diets increased the polyunsaturated fatty acids and cis 9 trans11 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; P<0.05), but the ratio of n-6 to n-3 was not effected. It is concluded that supplementation of SBO could increase CLAs, but no further increase may be expected by additional supplementation of VE.