Assessment of use of nutritional and organoleptic traits to differentiate the origin of Montesina lambs breed under three feeding regimes

In order to contribute to our knowledge of the meat quality of local lamb breeds in Spain, we carried out a characterization of the Montesina lamb breed, including nutritional (proximal composition, fatty acid profile, mineral content) and organoleptic (color, water holding capacity, shear force and volatile compounds) traits. The lambs were distributed in the following three production systems: spring grazing (SP; n = 10); winter grazing supplemented with concentrate (WP + c; n = 10) and concentrate supplemented with forage (C; n = 10). A combined statistical analysis using ANOVA, principal components and discriminant analysis by steps allowed us to select biomarkers in Montesina lambs' meat to identify the production system. The lambs' meat SP showed the highest moisture content (73.32%) and the lowest fat (1.05%). The lowest redness and yellowness color indices were observed in C lamb's meat (6.76 and 10.08, respectively). A higher content of aldehydes, C18:3n-3 and C22:5 n-3 DPA was associated to SP and WP + c, while alcohols were associated to C lamb's diet. Alcohol and aldehyde compounds, in combination with C18:3n-3 and C22:5 n-3 DPA fatty acids, could be proposed as potential biomarkers to differentiate the three production systems and as a tool to monitor the traceability of lambs' meat from the Montesina breed.