Occurrence of conjugated linoleic acid in longissimus dorsi muscle of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and zebu-type cattle raised under savannah conditions.

Lipid extracts from longissimus dorsi muscles of 64 water buffaloes and 68 zebu-type cattle were used to quantify the amount (mg/g of lipids) of total conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), CLA isomers c9, t11 and t10, c12 and linoleic acid (LA), according to species (buffaloes and cattle), age (slaughter groups at 7, 17, 19 or 24 months of age) and gender (bulls and steers). The effects of gender and age were significant (P<0.05) but marginal. Comparisons of lipid extracts from buffaloes vs. cattle showed that total CLA (1.83 vs. 1.47 mg/g), CLA c9, t11 (1.27 vs. 1.01 mg/g) and CLA t10, c12 (0.56 vs. 0.47 mg/g) isomers as well as the CLA/LA ratio (0.10 vs. 0.07) were higher (P<0.05) in buffalo lipids. Considering the sparingly low lipid concentrations (<2 g/100 g of fresh muscle) none of the meat species should be considered a significant source of CLA.