Fatty acid composition in adipose tissues of goats and sheep reared on either grazing or confinement regimen

Abstract

Essential fatty acids play a part in many metabolic processes such as immune system, and cardiovascular system. A lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids or increased omega-3 fatty acids in human diet was more desirable in reducing the risk of the chronic diseases. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine fatty acid composition from goat and sheep adipose tissues with two different rearing regimens, grazing and confinement. Ten young male crossbred goats and sheep were equally divided into two groups by their species reared on either grazing or confinement. Analysis of data as a 2 x 2 factorial combination in Completely Randomized Design showed that different species did affect fatty acid compositions and no significant differences were found by either rearing regimens in fatty acid composition in perirenal adipose tissues. The ratio of the saturated to unsaturated fatty acid was significantly higher (P<0.01) in goats than that found in sheep. But, the effects of rearing and species-rearing interaction were not observed on this ratio. Moreover, there was significantly higher (P<0.05) α-linolenic acid (C18:3 ω3) in sheep adipose tissue than goats in both rearing regimens. Thus, ω6/ω3 ratio tended to be lower in sheep than goats. Perirenal adipose tissues from goat and sheep contained 4.02 % and 4.57 % polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), respectively.