Premium
Effects of a stay‐green trait on the concentrations and stability of fatty acids in perennial ryegrass
Author(s) -
Dewhurst R. J.,
Moorby J. M.,
Scollan N. D.,
Tweed J. K. S.,
Humphreys M. O.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2494.2002.00336.x
Subject(s) - perennial plant , lolium perenne , vaccenic acid , conjugated linoleic acid , fatty acid , linoleic acid , rumen , biology , wilting , dry matter , linolenic acid , polyunsaturated fatty acid , food science , agronomy , zoology , chemistry , botany , fermentation , biochemistry
Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of a stay‐green trait in perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne ) on concentrations of fatty acids as well as their susceptibility to peroxidation during wilting and to biohydrogenation by rumen bacteria. Fatty acid concentrations were recorded in stay‐green and corresponding normal perennial ryegrass selection lines over eight cuts during 1998. There was a progressive increase in total fatty acid concentrations [from 20·8 to 34·6 g kg −1 dry matter (DM)] and the proportion of fatty acids as α‐linolenic acid (from 0·62 to 0·70 g g −1 ) from early to late season. A second study compared fatty acid concentrations in stay‐green and normal herbage that was wilted for up to 48 h. There was a loss of 0·2–0·3 g g −1 fatty acids during 48 h of wilting and a small reduction in the rate of loss of α‐linolenic acid in stay‐green perennial ryegrass compared with normal herbage (0·223 vs. 0·290 g g −1 lost after 48 h). Stay‐green and normal perennial ryegrasses were offered to grazing lambs in a third study. Higher concentrations of trans ‐vaccenic acid and conjugated linoleic acid in plasma from lambs offered less mature grass in the pre‐experimental period than during the experiment are considered to reflect a greater supply of precursor (linoleic acid). There were higher concentrations of conjugated linoleic (0·0070 vs. 0·0039 g l −1 ) and linoleic (0·092 vs. 0·070 g l −1 ) acids, without an increase in trans ‐vaccenic acid, in plasma from lambs grazing stay‐green perennial ryegrass than normal perennial ryegrass. This suggests that the stay‐green trait affected the rate of degradation of fatty acids in the rumen. These results demonstrate the potential for obtaining proportionately large differences in fatty acid profiles of ruminant products by altering grassland management.