The effect of cattle breed on the quality of intramuscular fat

<br>The aim ofthe study was toverify whether differences inintramuscular fat quality, evaluation based onfatty acid profile and ratios, occur between cattle genotypes– the combined performance cattle breed Czech Fleckvieh and the beef breed Aberdeen Angus– under identical rearing conditions (same pasture location and nutritional management) with extensive grazing. The results ofobservation show the difference inthe quality ofintramuscular fat ofbulls with combined performance and bulls with meat performance inextensive pastoral farming. Breed differences were reflected byastatistically significantly higher mean intramuscular fat (<i>P</i>≤0.05) inthe beef cattle breed (149± 60.1g/kg dry matter) compared tothe combined performance breed (120± 51.8g/kg dry matter). Ahigher saturated fatty acid (SFA) value of53.4± 22.2g/kg dry matter was observed inthe beef cattle breed compared toSFA 40.8± 18.9g/kg dry matter (<i>P</i>≤0.05) inthe combined performance cattle breed; ahigher monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) value of43.8± 26.3g/kg dry matter compared toaMUFA value of42.3± 20.8g/kg dry matter (<i>P</i>>0.05); and ahigher value ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids n-3 (PUFA n-3) 0.76± 0.33g/kg dry matter (<i>P</i>≤0.05) compared toPUFA n-3 0.48± 0.21g/kg dry matter incombined performance cattle breed. Ahigher value ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids n-6 (PUFA n-6) 3.66± 1.39g/kg dry matter was found inthe combined performance cattle breed compared tothe meat cattle breed with PUFA n-6 3.54± 0.96g/kg dry matter (<i>P</i>>0.05). Amore favourable n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio was observed inthe Aberdeen Angus (<i>P</i>≤0.05). The results suggest that the different genotypes of the bull breeds studied, reared on extensively used pasture, may influence the amount of intramuscular fat and its quality.