Fatty acid composition in pork fat: De-novo synthesis, fatty acid sources and influencing factors – a review

ArticleFats are among the basic nutrients the human organism needs as a source of energy, as well as to grow and regenerate cells, tissues, and organs. Particularly animal fats, with their higher proportion of saturated fatty acids and low content of n-3 fatty acids, are often seen by the public as relatively undesirable food components. Fatty acid (FA) composition of pork is affected by many factors: genotype, breeding, gender and feeding methods. Numerous research teams, therefore, have searched for means of effectively manipulating the chemical composition of animal fats. This paper reviews existing knowledge and means of effectively influencing the fatty acid composition in pig fat, which is a significant component of human food in European countries due to their high consumption of pork. The findings of various authors demonstrate that not only altering of fatty acids sources in animal diets but a range of other factors as well can significantly influence the composition of fatty acids in pig fat and consequently pork quality

Economic Aspect of Growing Pigs with Respect to Sex and Immunocastration

The minimization of boar taint according to welfare appears to be immunocastration. For this purpose a test was carried out for a total of 80 piglets in the growing stage. Animals were housed by sex, respectively 20 boars, 20 immunocasatrates, 20 barrows and 20 gilts. Animals were fed ad libitum, and the production variables were observed with an emphasis on the overall economy of their production. Intergroup differences were tested by variance analyse and the test groups of growing pigs were evaluated using a profit formula. It was shown that animals in the growing period had excellent parameters of the fattening (in the 65 days, the total gain was 19 kg, with daily feed intake below 0.7 kg, feed conversion ratio 1.2 kg and average daily gain 540-560 g). The effect of sex, or the castration of young pigs on the economy of the pig production in growing period is proved to be insignificant. This hypothesis was confirmed