Meat physicochemical properties, fatty acid profile, lipid oxidation and sensory characteristics from three North African lamb breeds, as influenced by concentrate or pasture finishing diets

• We prove the high nutritional meat quality of grazing lamb with increased PUFA.
• Meat produced in pasture did not require antioxidants had extended shelf-life.
• The NT meat breed has less fat and higher desirable fatty acids than rustic breeds.
• Between-breed differences for some meat quality aspects were observed.

This study investigated the meat quality of lambs from three North African breeds (Barbarine, BB; Queue Fine de l’Ouest, QFO; and Noire de Thibar, NT) reared on concentrate (S) or on pasture (P). A total of 18 P and 18 S lambs (20 kg initial body weight) were used, with 6 P and 6 S lambs for each breed. After 67 days, all lambs were slaughtered at 26 kg final body weight and meat quality was studied. The pH of S lambs 1 h post-mortem was lower than that of P lambs (p = 0.001). Water cooking loss, colour and sensory quality were not affected by both factors. The pasture and the concentrate meats had the same proportions of lipids and proteins; however QFO and BB breeds had more intramuscular fat than NT breed. The saturated fatty acid proportion was higher for S than P groups (50.63 vs. 44.48%, respectively) and for QFO compared to other breeds. C18:1 was higher for S groups, while C18:2, C18:3 and CLA were higher for P groups. The S group had higher lipid oxidation, while the QFO breed had the highest TBARS. P lambs may have healthier meat than S lambs and the NT breed had the leanest meat with higher concentration of desirable FAs.