Thermal analysis of lipids isolated from various tissues of sheep fats

The physical–chemical properties and fatty acid composition of sheep subcutaneous, tallow, intestinal, and tail fats were determined. Sheep fat types contained C_16:0, C_18:0, and C_18:1 as the major components of fatty acid composition (19.56–23.40, 20.77–29.50, 32.07–38.30%, respectively). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study revealed that two characteristic peaks were detected in both crystallization and melting curves. Major peaks (T _peak) of tallow and intestinal fats were similar and determined as 31.25–24.69 and 7.44–3.90 °C, respectively, for crystallization peaks and 15.36–13.44 and 45.98–44.60 °C, respectively, for melting peaks in DSC curves; but those of tail fat (18.29 and −2.13 °C for crystallization peaks and 6.56 and 33.46 °C for melting peaks) differed remarkably from those of other fat types.