Conjugated linoleic acid changes swine performance and carcass composition

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a collective term for positional and geom etric isomers of linoleic acid. Dietary CLA has been shown to improve feed efficiency, decrease body fat, and increase lean tissue in laboratory anima ls. We hypothesized that CLA would improve performance and carcass composit ion and would be deposited in pork tissues. Diets of 40 crossbred pigs were supplemented with CLA to determine its effects on performance and carcass composition. Eight replications of five littermate barrows with an initial average weight of 26.3 kg were allotted at random to individual pens. Withi n replication dietary treatments containing 0, 0.12, 0.25, 0.5, or 1.0% CLA were assigned at random. Pigs were weighed and feed disappearance was dete rmined at 14-d intervals. Average daily gain increased linearly as the leve l of CLA increased in the diet (P < 0.05). Average daily feed intake was no t affected by the concentration of CLA in the diet. Therefore, a linear inc rease in gain:feed ratio (P < 0.05) was observed. Carcasses from animals fe d control diets had greater 10th rib backfat than carcasses from animals fe d CLA (P <less than> 0.05). Ultrasound measurement and carcass measurements showed less fat depth over the loin eye at the 10th rib of pigs fed doses of CLA (P < 0.05) than that observed for control pigs. Belly hardness (firm ness) increased linearly as the concentration of CLA in the diet increased when bellies were measured for firmness either lean side up (P <less than> 0.001) or lean side down (P < 0.05). Loin dissection data demonstrated that CLA produced a quadratic treatment effect both for less intermuscular fat (P < 0.001) and less subcutaneous fat (P < 0.05) and a linear increase for bone (P < 0.05), although finished loin weight only tended to increase (P = 0.08). The CLA concentration increased in a linear relationship in both su bcutaneous fat (P < 0.001) and lean tissue (P < 0.001). Dietary CLA was inc orporated into pig tissues and had positive effects on performance and body composition.