Effect of feeding tuna oil or soyabean oil as supplements to sows in late pregnancy on piglet tissue composition and viability

Abstract

To investigate whether long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids could cross the porcine placenta in late pregnancy and alter neonatal piglet tissue composition, multiparous sows (seven per diet) were fed on diets containing a supplement (30 g/kg) of either soyabean oil or tuna oil for the last 21 d of pregnancy and the first 7 d of lactation. The proportions of all fatty acids, except 18:1n-7, differed between diets: in particular, the tuna-oil-containing diet supplied more 22:6n-3 and less 18:2n-6 fatty acids than the soyabean-oil-containing diet. The proportions of n-3 fatty acids, particularly 22:6n-3 (g/100 g total fatty acids) in sow plasma, colostrum and milk were increased and the p..