Discriminant analysis as a tool to identify bovine and ovine meat produced from pasture or stall-fed animals

• Published in: Italian journal of animal science 2020-12, Vol.19 (1), p.1065-1070
• Main Authors: Acciaro, Marco, Decandia, Mauro, Sitzia, Maria, Manca, Carla, Giovanetti, Valeria, Cabiddu, Andrea, Addis, Margherita, Rassu, S. Piegiacomo G., Molle, Giovanni, Dimauro, Corrado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; cattle; Discriminant analysis; Fatty acids; Feeding; Isomers; Meat; multivariate statistical analysis; Pasture; sheep; Species; Statistical analysis; Statistics; traceability
• ISSN: 1828-051X; 1594-4077; 1828-051X
• DOI: 10.1080/1828051X.2020.1816507

This work evaluated the reliability of the multivariate statistical analysis to discriminate the feeding system and the species of ruminants using their intramuscular fatty acids (FA) profile. FA composition of 53 meat samples (longissimus dorsi muscle) from animals of different species (sheep and cattle) raised with different feeding systems (pasture and stall-fed) (4 groups overall) was determined and expressed as % fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). A stepwise discriminant analysis (SDA) was applied to the full set of FA to select the variables that best discriminated between feeding systems and animal species. The selected variables were then submitted to a canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) to test the ability of those variables in discriminating against the four groups. Discriminant analysis (DA) was then exploited to classify meat samples. From the 62 initial variables detected in the FA profile, 24 were retained in the SDA. The subsequent CDA developed by using the selected variables, significantly discriminated the four groups (Hotelling's test p