Fatty Acids Content of M. Longissimus Dorsi of Moravka Pigs

Abstract

Fatty acids composition of m. longissimus dorsi (MLD) of Moravka pigs was analyzed considering also the effect of sex and body weight of pigs at slaughter. Pigs were reared in facilities with the openaire section and fed a complete feed mixtures adapted to the stage of growth (from 20-60 kg mixture I: 15.50% of crude protein (CP) and 12.95 MJ metabolisable energy (ME)/kg,; from 60-120 kg mixture II: 13.00% CP and 13.05 MJ ME/kg). The study included 21 pigs (12 castrated males and 9 females). Pigs were slaughtered at 339±30 days of age and 112.8±19.9 kg of live weight. MLD of Moravka pigs had the following fatty acids composition: 41.8 % saturated fatty acids (ΣSFA), 54.0% monounsaturated fatty acids (ΣMUFA) and 4.1% polyunsaturated fatty acids (ΣPUFA) resulting in value 0.10 for the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (P/S). Fatty acids C16:0 and C18:0 represented the largest share of ΣSFA (61.7 and 34.3 %, respectively), C18:1 and C16:1 the largest share of ΣMUFA (90.1 and 7.1%, respectively), and C18:2 the largest share of ΣPUFA (93.5%). With regard to sex effect, castrated males exhibited higher content of saturated fatty acids C14:0 (1.42 vs. 1.26, P=0.046) and C18:0 (15.07 vs. 13.38, P=0.025) than females. Significant effect (P<0.05) of body weight was observed on some fatty acids; thus 1 kg increase of slaughter weight was accompanied with 0.036% decrease of linoleic acid (C18:2n-6), 0.038% decrease of total content of polyunsaturated acids (ΣPUFA), 0.020% increase of palmitoleic acid (C16:1cis-9), 0.067% increase in total content of monounsaturated fatty acids (ΣMUFA), 0.003% increase of C17:0. Ratio P/S decreased by 0.001 unit per kg increase of slaughter weight. In agreement with their high relative content, a strong correlation (rP=0.79 and rP=0.77) was found between C16:0 and C18:0 and total content of saturated fatty acids (ΣSFA), between C16:1cis-9 and C18:1cis-9 and ΣMUFA (rP=0.80 and rP=0.98, p<0.001), and between linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) and ΣPUFA (rP=0.99, p<0.001).