Carcass traits, meat quality, antioxidant status and antioxidant gene expression in muscle and liver of Hu lambs fed perilla seed.

Summary: The effects of perilla (<italic>Perilla frutescens</italic> L.) seed on carcass traits, meat quality, antioxidant status and antioxidant gene expression in the liver and muscle of Hu lambs were investigated in this study. Sixty Hu lambs (23.02 ± 1.36 kg) were randomly divided into four experimental groups receiving diets containing 0%, 5%, 10% or 15% perilla seed (CD, 5%PFSD, 10%PFSD and 15%PFSD, respectively). The addition of perilla seed had no significant impacts on carcass traits (<italic>p </italic>><italic> </italic>.05). There were no differences in pH, meat colour, drip loss, cooking loss or shear force among the four treatments (<italic>p </italic>><italic> </italic>.05). Addition of perilla seed increased (<italic>p </italic><<italic> </italic>.05) deposition of intramuscular lipids but had no effect on other chemical components in the longissimus dorsi (LD) (<italic>p </italic>><italic> </italic>.05). The 15%PFSD diet decreased the total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the liver (<italic>p </italic><<italic> </italic>.05 for both) but increased the activity of these antioxidant enzymes in LD (<italic>p </italic><<italic> </italic>.05 for both). Compared to CD, addition of perilla seed increased superoxide dismutase (<italic>SOD</italic>) and glutathione peroxidase (<italic>GPX</italic>) expression in the liver and LD (<italic>p </italic><<italic> </italic>.05 for all). These results indicate that perilla seed supplementation in lambs’ diets can increase deposition of intramuscular lipids and improve muscular oxidative status and meat quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]