Fatty acid composition of goat diets vs intramuscular fat

Twenty Boer x Spanish goats, at the age range of 90–118 days, were assigned to two dietary treatments, with 10 animals fed a grain ration (G) and the other 10 grazed in rangeland. The grain ration contained sorghum grain (67.5%), cottonseed hulls, dehydrated alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, soybean meal, molasses, and mineral and vitamin supplements. Animals were slaughtered at the age range of 206–234 days. Intramuscular fat (IF) and the diet specimens — representative samples of G and the parts of range plants (RPs) that goats were expected to have consumed — were analyzed for fatty acid composition. The percentage of 16:0 was higher in RPs than in G, but not different between IF from range goats and that from grain-fed goats. Total unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) percentage was higher in G than in RPs. The major UFAs were 18:2 and 18:3 in RPs, and 18:1 and 18:2 in G. In IF, 18:1 constituted more than two-thirds of UFAs, regardless of diet type.