TEORES DE COLESTEROL E ÁCIDOS GRAXOS EM CARNE DE CATETOS (Tayassu tajacu) CRIADOS EM CATIVEIRO

Abstract

The rational exploration of Tayassu tajacu, popularly known as collared peccaries, may well contribute toward diminishing the predatory hunt for this animal. The object of the present study was to evaluate the effect of sex and castration in relation to amounts of cholesterol and fatty acids found in the meat of animals raised in a captivity. A total of 12 animals was used, 8 being male (of which 4 had been castrated) and 4 female. All of the animals were given the same type of treatment and the same food. After the animals had been slaughtered, the frozen carcasses were carefully packed and sent to the laboratory responsible for examination of meats and fish which is part of the Department of Nutritional Technology of the Federal University of Ceará, in order to determine the quantity of cholesterol and fatty acids present in the meat of these animals. The amount of cholesterol in the meat of the females was less than that found in the meat of the non-castrated males. In relation to the quantity of fatty acids, the meat of the female species presented a smaller percentage of linoleic and arachid acids and a higher percentage of palmitic and palmitoleic acids when compared to both the castrated and non-castrated males. Castration appears to have had no effect on the amount of cholesterol in the meat of the male species, which presented an acceptable lipoid profile due to the presence of considerable quantities of linoleic acid and a lower percentage of cholesterol than that found in other domestic or wild species .