NON-INVASIVE METHOD TO EVALUATE THE MAIN BIOHYDROGENATION PATHWAYS OF LIPIDS IN THE RUMEN OF LAMB

The present patent application discloses a non-invasive method for the evaluation of main pathways of rumen biohydrogenation of lipids in young sheep during fattening, based on the fat composition of faeces. The method disclosed herein involves the collection of samples of lamb faeces, biomass drying, the preparation of fatty acid methyl esters, analysis of fatty acid composition by gas chromatography (GC) and the identification of the major fatty acids isomers resulting from rumen biohydrogenation and excreted by the lambs in the faeces. The fatty acid profile of the main biohydrogenation octadecenoic isomers in feces reflect with high accuracy the proportion of the corresponding isomers in rumen and this information is useful to predict fatty acid composition of lamb meat.