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Effect of Dietary Fiber on Young Adult Genetically Lean, Obese and Contemporary Pigs: Body Weight, Carcass Measurements, Organ Weights and Digesta Content¹

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Clay Center, NE 68933³

Abstract

Twenty-one genetically lean, obese or contemporary barrows (6 mo old; seven of each genotype) were assigned to individual tether stalls and fed a control diet (low-fiber) or a diet containing 80% alfalfa meal (high-fiber) at 1.50% of initial body weight for 71 d (1.75% for d 1 to 4). Backfat thickness was recorded ultrasonically at 2-wk intervals, and body weight was recorded at the beginning and end of the 10-wk experiment. Pigs were slaughtered after a 24-h fast, and carcass weight, length and backfat thickness and cross-sectional area of the longissimus muscle were measured. Weights of cecum, heart, liver and kidney and of full and empty stomach and colon and empty small intestine were recorded. Volume and weight of colon and cecum contents were determined. Restriction of digestible energy reduced weight gain to zero or below in pigs fed alfalfa meal compared with 220 g daily in pigs fed the low-fiber diet. Restriction of energy reduced backfat in all three genotypes. Liver, kidney and empty segments of the gastrointestinal tract as a percentage of body weight were increased by high fiber. Obese pigs had smaller longissimus muscle area, more backfat and smaller liver, heart, empty stomach and colon than lean or contemporary pigs, but there were no diet x genotype interactions for any of these traits. Obese pigs consistently had smaller digesta volumes and dry matter weights than the other genotypes. The increased relative organ weights and the associated disproportionate contribution of these organs to body energy expenditure have important implications for effects on basal metabolic rate. Because the pigs were fed at the same level, the decreased digesta contents suggest that rat of passage must be faster in the obese swine. Thus, it is suggested that high fiber has two effects: to reduce digestible energy intake and to increase basal metabolic rate of the animal.

¹ The authors thank Ted Acton, Jenell Dague and associates for animal care; Pat Reiman and associates for feed preparation; Shannon Jordre, Lei Yen, Jeff Waechter and associates for feed and fecal analyses; Dave Kohmetscher and associates for animal slaughter and carcass measurements; and Sherry Hansen for typing the manuscript.

² Present address: USDA-ARS, U. S. Dairy Forage Res. Center and Dept. of Anim. Sci., Univ. of MN, St. Paul 55108.

³ Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Anim. Res. Center.

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