Effect of Sex and Age on Nutritional Content in Wild Axis Deer (<i>Axis axis</i> Erx.) Meat
2020
Nikolina Kelava Ugarković | Miljenko Konjačić | Zvonimir Prpić | Kristijan Tomljanović | Damir Ugarković
The aim of this study is to examine the effect of sex and age on proximate chemical, fatty acid, amino acid and mineral content of axis deer (<i>Axis axis</i> Erx.) meat. Sixteen (<i>n</i> = 16) animals were hunt-harvested and assigned to groups according sex and age (sub-adult and adult). All analyses were made on <i>m. longissimus thoracis</i> sampled between the 9th and 13th ribs. Minor differences in nutritional composition of axis deer meat were found between analysed sex and age groups. Axis deer meat has a high protein (22.8%) and low fat (1.39%) content. Saturated fatty acids accounted for 44.97% and polyunsaturated for 29.66% of the total fatty acids. Ratios of fatty acids were within the recommended values. Glutamic and aspartic acid were the most abundant non-essential, and lysine and leucine the most common essential amino acids. The ratio of essential to non-essential amino acids was <1. Potassium and phosphorous were the dominant macro-minerals, while iron and zinc were the dominant micro-minerals. The results of this study show that regardless of sex or age, axis deer meat can be considered a good source of basic macro- and micro-nutrients, and can be recommended as a substitute for red meat from domestic animals.
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