Efecto del tiempo de suplementación con vitamina E o pastoreo con alfalfa en el contenido de alpha-tocoferol en plasma y carne en la oxidación lipídica en corderos ligeros

Indoor-kept concentrate-fed light lambs (n=54) were supplemented with 500 mg of dl-α-tocopheryl acetate/kg concentrate for different days (from 4 to 42) before slaughtering at 22–24 kg BW. Simultaneously, 8 lambs with their dams were alfalfa-grazed and the lambs were slaughtered at the same weight. After 7 days of intake, plasma αtocopherol levels in lambs supplemented with α-tocoferol increased significantly to be approximately 5-fold higher than C lambs. After the day 11 the plasma α-tocopherol content kept steady. The effect of the grazing length on plasma α-tocopherol was not significant. In both muscles studied (LT and ST) the period length of supplementation of α-tocopherol had significant influence increasing the content until the end of the study, although no differences between LT and ST muscles were observed. In lipid oxidation there was a significant interaction between days of intake concentrate and time of display in meat, TBARS values from 0 to 14 days of intake had a sharply decrease and thereafter kept steady. Thereby seems not suitable fed light lambs more than 14 d before slaughter.