THE FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF MUSCLE TISSUE OF SIMMENTAL BABY-BEEF
In this work, the fatty acid (FA) composition of muscle tissue of baby-beef cattle was investigated with regard to its nutritional value. Twenty six Simmental cattle of both sexes produced under the intensive conditions of housing and feeding were slaughtered at the age of one year and final weight of 489.6p 46.5 kg. The portion of muscle (m.longissimus dorsi) was taken for the chemical analysis at the level of 8th rib on cooled halves 24 h post mortem. Muscle fat content was determined by Foss-Let apparatus after extraction of lipids with tetrachloroethylene. Fatty acid composition was determined by gas liquid chromatography using in situ transesterification method and given as % of total weight of fatty acids. The average muscle fat content was 18.96 g/kg (95% CI 14.09-23.83). The average proportions of saturated FA (SFA), monounsaturated FA (MUFA) and polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) in muscle tissue were 43.03 (95% CI 42.19-43.87), 43.05 (95% CI 40.74-45.36) and 13.08 % (95% CI 10.96-15.19), respectively. The indicators of nutritional quality of fats like ratios of PUFA to SFA (PUFA/SFA) and n-6 PUFA to n-3 PUFA (n-6/n-3), as well as the atherogenicity index (AI) in muscle were 0.31 (95% CI 0.25-0.36), 13.51 (95% CI 12.59-14.43), and 0.60 (95% CI 0.58-0.63), respectively. These results suggest a need for the improvement of nutritional value of baby-beef fats through the modifications of its FA composition, primarily through n-3 PUFA enrichment.