a b s t r a c
This study investigated the effect of replacing cereal concentrateswith high levels of dried citrus pulp in the diet
on lamb meat oxidative stability. Over 56 days, lambs were fed a barley-based concentrate (Control) or concentrates
inwhich 24% and 35% dried citrus pulpwere included to partially replace barley (Citrus 24% and Citrus 35%,
respectively). Meat was aged under vacuum for 4 days and subsequently stored aerobically at 4 °C. The Control
diet increased the redness, yellowness and saturation ofmeat after blooming (P b 0.01). Regardless of the level of
supplementation, dietary dried citrus pulp strongly reduced meat lipid oxidation over 6 days of aerobic storage
(P b 0.001), while colour parameters did not change noticeably over storage and their variation rate was not
affected by the diet. In conclusion, replacing cereals with dried citrus pulp in concentrate-based diets might
represent a feasible strategy to naturally improve meat oxidative stability and to promote the exploitation of
this by-product.
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