Intramuscular and subcutaneous lipid fatty acid profile composition in male and female foals

This study characterised the lipid classes of Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle and the fatty acid profiles of the LD intramuscular fat and subcutaneous (SC) adipose tissue of male and female foal mixed populations. Two animal groups were studied based on slaughter ages of 16 and 24 months. The sex of the animals had no statistical significance in the lipid fractions of the LD muscle or in the intramuscular fatty acids (p ⩾ 0.05). In contrast, there was a significant effect of sex on the fatty acid profile of the SC adipose tissue. Furthermore, the livestock production system showed difference in both lipid class and fatty acid profiles from the LD and SC adipose tissues. The LD of 24-month old foals had lower phospholipids content (p ⩽ 0.001), displayed little difference in saturated fatty acids (SFA) (p ⩽ 0.1), exhibited higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (p ⩽ 0.05) and lower levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (p ⩽ 0.05) compared with that of the 16-month old foals. Furthermore, the fatty acid profile of the SC adipose tissue of the 24-month old foals had higher SFA (p ⩽ 0.05) and PUFA (p ⩽ 0.01) with lower amounts of MUFA (p ⩽ 0.001) relative to the 16-month old foals.