Fatty acid profile of Turkish Bandirma Crossbreed, Karacabey Merino Multiplier and Karacabey Merino Nucleus lambs raised in the same intensive production system

•Fatty acid profile of lamb meat.•Determination of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) contents in lamb meat.•The main fatty acid of lamb genotypes was C18:1, followed by C16:0 and C18:0.

Fatty acid composition of Longissimus dorsi intramuscular fat in Bandirma Crossbreed (BC), Karacabey Merino Multiplier (KMM) and Karacabey Merino Nucleus (KMN) lambs were compared. Twelve of BC, twelve of KMM and twelve of KMN lamb genotypes were evaluated as test materials and each genotype was grouped as male and female composed of six lambs. There was no effect of sex on fatty acid composition in three different meats of lamb. According to the analysis results, saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were found to be 45.05 ± 2.12, 43.32 ± 3.51, and 44.95 ± 3.13%, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) were found to be 46.66 ± 1.90, 46.34 ± 3.48, and 46.66 ± 2.39%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were found to be 5.20 ± 0.83, 6.52 ± 1.39, and 6.03 ± 1.35% in BC, KMM, and KMN lamb breeds, respectively. The content of C18:1t-11 (vaccenic acid), C18:2, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is known to have beneficial properties such as antidiabetic and anticarcinogenic, antiatherogenic for human health and PUFAs were higher for KMM lambs than for BC and KMN lambs (p < 0.05).