EN
The aim of the investigations was to find out the relationship between the fatty acid composition and cholesterol content with intramuscular fat content and marbling score in the meat of cattle of Polish Holstein-Friesian breed. The fatty acid composition and cholesterol content were both determined in two skeletal muscles of four categories of animals – calves, heifers, young bulls and cows.Significantly higher saturated and polyunsaturated acids proportions and lower monounsaturated acids and cholesterol concentration were found in the meat of calves, whereas the lowest saturated acids and highest cholesterol concentration were obtained in the muscles of cows, and the lowest polyunsaturated acids in heifers. The level of marbling and intramuscular fat were significantly negatively correlated (-0.28 ≤ r ≤ -0.73) with the proportions of C12:0, C14:0, C18:2n6 and C20:4n6 and positively (0.15 ≤ r ≤ 0.44) with C18:1c9 and with cholesterol content. Significant correlations for intramuscular fat with C18:4n3 and marbling with C16:0, C18:0, C18:3n3 and C22:5n3, were also found. The results obtained suggest that marbling is a useful indicator enabling to state the relationship between cholesterol content and the level of some fatty acids in bovine meat.