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Significance of the Synthesis of Essential Fatty Acids in Swine

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853^,3

Abstract

An experiment with 29 5-week-old Yorkshire pigs (initial weight 6.5 kg) was completed to study the effects of a fat-free diet on (1) growth rate, (2) body composition and (3) net synthesis of fatty acids.

Semi-purified diets consisting principally of glucose and casein were used with or without supplementation of corn oil in a 28-day test. All pigs were caged in pairs in stainless steel metabolism cages and fed ad libitum in three replicates totalling 12 pigs per treatment. Five littermate controls were slaughtered at the beginning of the experiment to provide an estimate of the changes in body composition and net fatty acid synthesis.

Weight gain was not significantly affected by the level of fat in the diet and no skin lesions or alopecia were seen in pigs fed the fat-free diet. Pigs fed the fat-free diet contained significantly less (P<.01) dry matter and ether extract than those fed the diet containing fat. The protein and ash percentages were similar for the two groups.

¹ Assistant Professor of Animal Nutrition, Faculdade de Agronomia Jaboticabal, Estado de Sao Paulo, Brazil.

² Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

³ The generosity of Dr. Robert L. Anderson in gas-liquid determination of fatty acids in the tissue and feed samples is gratefully acknowledged.