Effects of feeding fresh bergamot (Citrus Bergamia Risso) pulp at up to 35% of dietary dry matter on growth performance and meat quality from lambs

The effect of fresh bergamot pulp (FBP) was tested on lamb performances and meat quality. Twenty-seven Italian Merino ram-lambs were allotted into three experimental groups and for 90 days were fed a cereal-based concentrate diet (BERG-0) or two diets in which cereals were replaced with 20% (BERG-20) or 35% (BERG-35) FBP on DM basis. No significant differences between treatments were found for final weight, average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion ratio and carcass weight. The BERG-35 treatment tended to increase total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; P = 0.081) and vaccenic acid (P = 0.068) and increased PUFA n-3 (P < 0.001), rumenic acid (P < 0.001), α-linolenic acid (P < 0.001) and docosapentaenoic acid (P < 0.01), leading also to a value of PUFA n-6/n-3 ratio that not exceed a threshold value of 4. After 6 days of refrigerated storage BERG-20 and BERG-35 treatments reduced meat lipid oxidation (P < 0.01), while about colour parameters no effect of the treatment was observed. Therefore, present results suggest that inclusion fresh bergamot pulp at up to 35% in diets for fattening lamb might be an excellent strategy to reduce the amount of cereal concentrates without compromising animal growth performances and to improve meat quality.