Effects of age, sex, and diet upon carcass and liver fatty acid composition of Pitman-Moore miniature pigs.

Abstract

AbstractFatty acid composition of carcass and liver and proximate analysis of liver were studied in 14–28 day old Pitman‐Moore miniature pigs, 26 sow‐reared and 30 fed a semisynthetic diet in which the fat was lard. With increasing age, fat of carcass, but not of liver, became significantly more unsaturated. The percentage of palmitic acid (16∶0) and total saturated fatty acids was significantly greater and the percentage of linoleic acid (18∶2) and total unsaturated fatty acids significantly less in carcasses of male than of female pigs. No sex‐related differences in proximate or fatty acid composition of the liver were noted. Carcasses of sow‐reared pigs contained significantly greater percentages of myristic (14∶0), palmitoleic (16∶1), and linoleic acids and significantly lesser percentages of stearic (18∶0) and oleic (18∶1) acids than did those of pigs fed the semisynthetic diet. Diet‐related differences in fatty acid composition of liver closely paralleled those of carcass, although liver contained markedly greater percentages of stearic and arachidonic (20∶4) acids and lesser percentages of palmitoleic and oleic acids than did carcass. Diet‐related differences in fatty acid composition of carcass and liver are discussed in relation to the fatty acid composition of dietary fat (sow milk and lard).