Altering the ratio of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids in dietary fat affects nutrient digestibility, plasma metabolites, growth performance, carcass, meat quality, and lipid metabolism gene expression of Angus bulls.

This study evaluated the effects of changing the ratio of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids in dietary fat on nutritional metabolism, growth performance, and meat quality of finishing Angus bulls. Bulls received the following three treatments: (1) a control diet without fat supplement (CON), (2) CON + mixed fatty acid supplement (58% C16:0 + 28% cis-9 C18:1; MIX), (3) CON + saturated fatty acid supplement (87% C16:0 + 10% C18:0; SFA). In summary, both fat treatment diets simultaneously increased saturated fatty acids C16:0 (P = 0.025), C18:0 (P < 0.001) and total monounsaturated fatty acids (P = 0.008) in muscle, thus balancing the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in muscle. MIX diet increased the digestibility of dry matter (P = 0.014), crude protein (P = 0.038), and ether extract (P = 0.036). SFA diet increased the daily gain (P = 0.032) and intramuscular fat content (P = 0.043). The high content of C16:0 and C18:0 in the SFA diet promoted weight gain and fat deposition of beef cattle by increasing feed intake, up-regulating the expression of lipid uptake genes and increasing deposition of total fatty acids, resulting in better growth performance and meat quality.