TITLE:
Proximate Composition and Fatty Acid Profile of Beef from Arsi, Borana and Harar Cattle Breeds in Oromia National Regional State, Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Timketa Dagne, Yesihak Yusuf Mummed, Mohammed Yusuf Kurtu, Mengistu Urgea Leta, Travis Gene O’Quinn, Jessie L. Vipham
KEYWORDS:
Crude Fat, Fatty Acid Profile, Beef
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.11 No.2,
April
8,
2021
ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to determine proximate composition and profile of
fatty acid of beef from Arsi, Borana and Harar Cattle breeds in Ethiopia.
A total of 39 bulls with three age categories were used for the study. The bulls
were purchased from mixed crop livestock system (Arsi and Harar cattle breeds) and
Ranch (Borana cattle breed). Complete randomized design was used for the study.
Longissimus dorsi muscle
was used to evaluate proximate composition and profile of fatty acid. The result
of the study indicated that mean of percentage of dry matter, ash, crude fat and
crude protein were ranging 22.43 - 24.26, 0.32 - 1.28, 4.32 - 7.88, 17.21 - 22.76, respectively.
At age younger than 3 years, Harar bulls contain more crude fat compared to Arsi
bulls while the vice versa was true for crude protein. The concentration of polyunsaturated
fatty acid (PUFA) was higher than saturated fatty acid (SFA) in the three breeds
studied across all age categories. However, significantly higher (P 0.01) PUFA and lowest (P 0.05) SFA found in Harar breed
whereas the opposite hold true for Arsi bulls. Ratio of n-6: n-3 in the muscle of
bulls under the study was ranged from 2.10 to 2.57. Concentration of PUFA and MUF
in muscle of the three breeds were significantly affected (P 0.05) by age. From the study
it was concluded that Arsi, Boran and Harar bulls under the three age categories
contained more than 3% minimum crude fat that is required to insure palatability
of the beef. The higher concentration of PUFA over SFA in all breeds across age
categories indicated that the meat from these cattle breeds has less risk hazard
to human health. However, a strategy needs to be developed to increase the ratio of n-6: n-3 to
the nutritional recommendations by the World Health Organization which is 4:1 to
5:1. Moreover, the cause of the difference in proximate composition and profile
of fatty acid between breeds under the study at different age categories needs to
be investigated.