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.