Czech J. Food Sci., 2025, 43(5):352-357 | DOI: 10.17221/131/2024-CJFS

Amino acid and fatty acid profiles in raw and cooked swamp buffalo meat (Bubalus bubalis)Original Paper

Thassawan Somchan^1,2, Sawitree Wongtangtintharn², Suthipong Uriyapongson²

¹ Graduate School, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

² Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

The purpose of this study was to assess the amino acid and fatty acid profiles of swamp buffalo meat (Bubalus bubalis) obtained from a local market. The extractable free amino acids and free fatty acids of raw and cooked loin (Longissimus lumborum: LL) and round (Semimembranosus: SM) buffalo meat were analysed. These experiments were performed in a 2 × 2 factorial in randomised complete block design (RCBD) and there were four treatments combinations, including raw-loin, cooked-loin, raw-round and cooked-round with five replications. The results revealed the amino acid composition for the raw-loin included leucine [4.51 mg·(100 g)^–1 sample) and isoleucine [4.56 mg·(100 g)^–1 sample], whereas methionine, aspartic acid and asparagine were the least common amino acids found in both raw and cooked swamp buffalo meat [0.002, 0.020 and 0.034 mg·(100 g)^–1] of the sample. The amino acid composition of the cooked meat decreased by 50% as compared to raw meat. Swamp buffalo meat contains 10 fatty acids, including saturated fatty acids (SFAs) such as myristic acid (C14:0), palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0) and docosanoic acid (C22:0); monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) such as palmitoleic acid (C16:1, n-7) and oleic acid (C18:1); and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as linoleic acid (C18:2, n-6, ω6), gamma-linolenic acid (C18:3, n-6, ω6), eicosatetraenoic acid (C20:5, n-3, ω3) and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:4, n-6, ω6). Stearic acid (C18:0) was the most abundant saturated fatty acids found in the lipid component of buffalo meat. Other medium- and long-chain saturated fatty acids (C14:0, C16:0, C22:0) contributed to around 3–4% of the total fatty acid composition. The most abundant MUFAs and PUFAs were oleic acid (C18:1) and eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5). The PUFA/SFA ratio, total polyunsaturated fatty acids n-3, total polyunsaturated fatty 64 acids n-6, and n-6/n-3 ratios were not significantly different between raw and cooked buffalo meat.

Keywords: meat quality; cooking effect; amino acid composition; fatty acid composition

Received: July 1, 2024; Revised: July 30, 2025; Accepted: July 31, 2025; Prepublished online: October 22, 2025; Published: October 31, 2025  Show citation