Fatty acid profile of meat goats fed pre-treated oil palm frond

The main factor affecting the fatty acid (FA) profile of ruminant-derived products is diet composition. In order to determine the effect of pre-treated oil palm frond (OPF) on FA profiles of muscle tissues and subcutaneous fat, twenty crossbred male Boer goats were used for the animal feed trial. Five treatment diets were dietary control consisted of Napier grass (CON); Napier grass with non-treated OPF (NON); Napier grass and physically pre-treated OPF (PHY); Napier grass and biologically pre-treated OPF (BIO) and Napier grass and combined pre-treated OPF (COM). All groups were supplemented with 30% commercial goat pellet. The animals were slaughtered for sampling meat tissues after 130 days of feeding. The saturated fatty acid (SFA) (% of the total in FA) the longissimus dorsi muscle and subcutaneous fat of the CON group were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the pre-treated OPF groups, but no significant difference in biceps femoris muscle. In biceps femoris , stearic acid (C18:0) was higher in CON and NON groups than PHY, BIO and COM (p<0.001). In longissimus dorsi , C18:0 was found higher in NON (p<0.05), while in subcutaneous fat, C16:0 was found higher in CON and NON groups. For UFA, biceps femoris , longissimus dorsi and subcutaneous fat had higher UFA in BIO and COM groups (p<0.05). In addition, biological and combination pretreatments of OPF increased the PUFA: SFA ratio significantly compared with CON, NON and PHY groups (p<0.05). This finding suggested that biological pretreatment with enzyme extract from Ganoderma lucidum effectively enhances the nutritional value of OPF promoting the UFA in meat.