Partially or totally replacing soybean meal and maize by chickpeas in lamb diets: intramuscular fatty acid composition

Twenty-six Barbaresca lambs were randomly divided into three groups at age 60 days (SBM, Chickpeas 20, or Chickpeas 42). The SBM lambs received a commercial pelletted diet. The Chickpeas 20 received a diet in which part of the maize and part of the soybean meal were replaced by 20% of chickpeas. The Chickpeas 42 lambs received a diet with 42% of chickpeas and with neither maize nor soybean meal. Animals were slaughtered at 132 days of age and fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat was determined in the longissimus dorsi muscle. The dominant fatty acid in the meat from animals of all the three groups was the C18:1 cis (n-9). The proportion of this fatty acid was lower in the Chickpeas 42 lambs compared to the SBM and to the Chickpeas 20 lambs (P<0.01). Meat from animals receiving 42% chickpeas had higher proportions of C18:3 (n-6) than SBM animals (P<0.01). The C18:2 9-cis, 11-trans (conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)) increased with the proportion of chickpeas and was higher in the Chickpeas 20 and in the Chickpeas 42 animals compared with the SBM animals (P<0.05). The total replacement of soybean meal and maize by chickpeas gave a meat with higher proportions of C22:5 (n-3). Finally, the sum of n-3 fatty acids tended to be higher in the diet with 42% chickpeas.