Dietary Lecithin Supplementation Can Improve the Quality of the M. Longissimus thoracis

• Main Authors: Darryl N. D’Souza, Bronwyn L. Blake, Ian H. Williams, Bruce P. Mullan, David W. Pethick, Frank R. Dunshea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-11-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: lecithin; pork quality; texture; compression
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/5/4/0405
• ISSN: 2076-2615

Forty crossbred (Large White × Landrace × Duroc) female pigs (16.4 kg ± 0.94 kg) were used to investigate the effect of dietary lecithin supplementation on growth performance and pork quality. Pigs were randomly allocated to a commercial diet containing either 0, 3, 15 or 75 g lecithin/kg of feed during the grower and finisher growth phase. Pork from pigs consuming the diets containing 15 g and 75 g lecithin/kg had lower hardness ( P < 0.001) and chewiness ( P < 0.01) values compared to the controls. Dietary lecithin supplementation at 75 g/kg significantly increased ( P < 0.05) the linoleic acid and reduced ( P < 0.05) the myristic acid levels of pork compared to the control and the 3 g/kg and 15 g/kg lecithin supplemented treatments. Pigs fed the 75 g/kg lecithin supplemented diet had lower plasma cholesterol ( P < 0.05) at slaughter compared to pigs fed the control diet and the 3 g/kg and 15 g/kg lecithin supplemented treatments. These data indicate that dietary lecithin supplementation has the potential to improve the quality attributes of pork from female pigs.