The effects of dietary hesperidin and naringin supplementation on lamb performance and meat characteristics

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of supplementing feed with hesperidin or naringin, bioflavonoids that are abundant and inexpensive by-products of citrus cultivation, on lambs’ growth performance, carcass and meat characteristics. Fourty-four male Chios lambs were randomly assigned to 4 groups. One of the groups served as control (C) and was given a basal diet, whereas the other 3 groups were given the same diet further supplemented with hesperidin at 2500 mg (H), or naringin at 2500 mg (N), or α-tocopheryl acetate at 200 mg (E) per kg feed. At the end of the experiment (35th day), lambs were fasted, weighed and slaughtered. After overnight chilling, samples of longissimus thoracis muscle were taken and were used for meat quality evaluation. No significant differences were observed in final body weight, body weight gain and edible organ weights among the four experimental groups. pH, colour parameters (L, a*, b*), water holding capacity and shear force value of longissimus thoracis muscle were also not significantly influenced by the dietary treatments. Measurement of lipid oxidation values showed that hesperidin or naringin supplementation positively influenced meat antioxidant properties during the refrigerated storage at 4°C for up to 8 days, however to a lesser extent compared to α-tocopheryl acetate. Nowadays, there is a strong interest in isolating antioxidants from natural sources and using them in animal nutrition with the intention to minimize lipid oxidation in meat products. According to the findings of the present study, flavonoids appeared as a great alternative, since they resulted in an improvement of meat antioxidant capacity leading to a prolongation of its shelf-life and an increase of its acceptability in the market.