Effects of oat forage from different regions on flavor quality of Tibetan sheep leg muscles

MA Nana; HAN Lijuan; YUAN Zhenzhen; GUI Linsheng; SUN Shengnan; HOU Shengzhen; YANG Chao; WANG Zhiyou

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2025.16.003

Abstract：The experiment aimed to investigate the effects of oat forage from different regions on the flavor quality of Tibetan sheep leg muscles.A total of 60 healthy high-altitude male Tibetan sheep lambs at two months of age with similar physical conditions were selected and randomly divided into two groups,with 30 replicates in each group and one sheep in each replicate.The group Hl was fed with oat forage in saline areas,while the group H0 was fed with oat forage in non-saline areas.The pre-test period was 14 days,and the formal test period was 120 days.The biceps femoris(G2)and triceps brachii(B3)muscles of Tibetan sheep were selected to measure volatile flavor compounds,fatty acid,and amino acid concentrations.The results showed that the total polyunsaturated fatty acid content of G2 in the Hl group of Tibetan sheep was extremely higher than that in the H0 group(P＜0.01),and the scores of B3 essential amino acids/total amino acids and essential amino acids/non essential amino acids were closer to the high-quality protein score.A total of 36 known volatile flavor compounds were detected in both G2 and B3,with 30 in B3 and 19 in G2.The fingerprint spectrum indicated that the content of volatile characteristic substances such as hexanal,heptanal and l-octen-3-ol in the muscles of Hl group Tibetan sheep was higher,which might be the key factor causing the flavor difference between the two groups of muscles.Most volatile flavor compounds were significantly positively correlated with polyunsaturated fatty acids(P＜0.05).The study indicates that feeding Tibetan sheep with oat forage in saline areas has a positive impact on the flavor quality of leg muscles.