The fatty acid composition of muscles and fat depots of ostriches as influenced by genotype

Three genotypes of ostrich (South African Black, Zimbabwean Blue Necks and crosses between Zimbabwean Blue Neck males x South African Black females) were used to investigate the influence of genotype on the fatty acid composition of the musculus gastrocnemius and musculus iliofibularis, and abdominal and breast fat depots. Total saturated fatty acids in both the m. gastrocnemius and m. iliofibularis were higher in crosses (36.4% and 35.9%) than in South African Black ostriches (32.9% and 30.4%), whereas mono-unsaturated fatty acids were highest in South African Black ostriches. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids in the m. gastrocnemius were lowest in South African Black ostriches (26.5%) compared with the Zimbabwean Blue Necks (33.2%). Neither the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated (0.73 to 0.99) nor n-6 to n-3 (1.6 to 2.2) fatty acids were influenced by genotype, although the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids in Zimbabwean Blue Necks was higher in the m. gastrocnemius (0.99) than in the m. iliofibularis (0.73). Differences in individual fatty acids were prominent in the breast fat, and total saturated and mono-unsaturated fatty acids differed between genotypes in both breast and abdominal fat. Only the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the fat depots differed between South African Black (0.48) and Zimbabwean Blue Neck ostriches (0.42). The latter ratio was higher in the breast (0.50) than abdominal (0.42) fat in Zimbabwean Blue Necks. These results indicate that crossbreeding of different genotypes of ostriches reared under similar conditions does influence the overall fatty acid profiles of meat and fat.