MEAT SCIENCE, vol.156, pp.59-67, 2019 (SCI-Expanded)
This study investigated the oxidative stability of meat from lambs fed silages in which timothy grass was totally or partially replaced by sainfoin and/or red clover. Five groups of 8 lambs were fed the following silages: timothy grass (T), mixture (50:50) of timothy with either sainfoin (T-SF) or red clover (T-RC), mixture of timothy, sainfoin and red clover (50:25:25; T-SF-RC), or mixture (50:50) of sainfoin and red clover (SF-RC). Feeding the silages containing red clover (T-RC, T-SF-RC and SF-RC) decreased the deposition of vitamin E in muscle relative to the highly unsaturated fatty acids (P <.001), did not affect the oxidative stability of fresh meat, but reduced oxidative deterioration in cooked meat and in meat homogenates incubated with pro-oxidant catalysts (P <.001). The results of this study demonstrated that feeding lambs with silages containing sainfoin and red clover improve the oxidative stability of meat subjected to strong pro-oxidant conditions and suggest that these effects should be further clarified.