Studies on the fats of the bacon pig with reference to carcass quality. The effect of diet on the component fatty acids of the back fat

Abstract

The fatty acid composition of the back fats of pigs whose basic diets were buttermilk or skim milk have been determined by ester-fractionation, and the results are compared with those of previous workers. Pigs whose diets were supplemented with copra contained up to 13 mol. % of myristic acid, with smaller amounts of lauric acid. Experimental evidence supports the view that dietary linoleic acid is assimilated to a greater extent by slow-growing than by fast-growing pigs. Dietary lauric and myristic acids, however, appear in greater proportions in the depots of fast-growing, as compared with slow-growing pigs. The di-, and polyethenoid C18acids of the fat of unsupplemented milk-fed pigs appeared not to contain appreciable amounts of linoleic acid.