Effect of Total Replacement of Soya Bean Meal by Whole Lupine Seeds and of Gender on the Meat Quality and Fatty Acids Profile of Growing Rabbits

Cristina M Guedes; Mariana Almeida; Maude Closson; Sofia Garcia-Santos; José M Lorenzo; Rubén Domínguez; Luís Ferreira; Henrique Trindade; Severiano Silva; Victor Pinheiro

doi:10.3390/foods11162411

Effect of Total Replacement of Soya Bean Meal by Whole Lupine Seeds and of Gender on the Meat Quality and Fatty Acids Profile of Growing Rabbits

Foods. 2022 Aug 11;11(16):2411. doi: 10.3390/foods11162411.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Veterinary and Animal Research Centre (CECAV), Associate Laboratory for Veterinary and Animal Science (AL4AnimalS), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
² Higher Institute of Agronomy, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon, Portugal.
³ Centre for the Research and Technology Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
⁴ Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Rúa Galicia No 4, Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, San Cibrao das Viñas, 32900 Ourense, Spain.
⁵ Área de Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense, Universidad de Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain.

Abstract

In Europe, the most appropriate strategy to replace soybean meal (SBM) in animal feed has been the development of diets containing locally produced protein sources. One of these sources is lupine (Lupinus spp.). The effect of the total substitution of SBM by white lupine (WL) and yellow lupine (YL) seeds in the diets of growing rabbits and of gender on meat quality and the fatty acids (FA) profile were evaluated. Sixty hybrid weaned rabbits (New Zealand × Californian) (20 rabbits per diet), were fed diets that contained 150 g/kg of SBM (SBMD) and WL (WLD) or YL (YLD) for 35 to 69 days. At the end of this period, 30 rabbits (10 rabbits per diet) were slaughtered to evaluate the carcass and meat characteristics and the FA profile of the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle. In general, the carcass and meat characteristics (pH and colour) were not affected (p > 0.05) by diet or gender. Further, there was no observed effect (p > 0.05) of gender on meat FA and on the calculated indexes related to human health. However, diet had an effect (p < 0.05) on the FA profile, FA categories, and calculated indexes related to human health. The meat from rabbits fed SBMD presented higher (p < 0.05) saturated FA (SFA; 44 vs. 39 g/100 g average on lupine diets) and lower (p < 0.05) polyunsaturated FA (PUFA; 24 vs. 28 g/100 g average on lupine diets). Our results showed that SBM may be completely replaced by WL or YL, improving the quality of LD muscle FA in terms of nutritional quality for humans.

Keywords: diet; fatty acids; meat; rabbit; white lupine; yellow lupine.

Grants and funding

The authors acknowledge financial support through project INTERACT—“Integrative Research in Environment, Agro-Chains and Technology”, reference NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000017, in its line of research entitled ISAC, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through NORTE 2020 (North Regional Operational Program 2014/2020).