Low Dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA Ratio Regulates Meat Quality, Reduces Triglyceride Content, and Improves Fatty Acid Composition of Meat in Heigai Pigs

• Main Authors: Qiuyun Nong, Liyi Wang, Yanbing Zhou, Ye Sun, Wentao Chen, Jintang Xie, Xiaodong Zhu, Tizhong Shan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-09-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: meat quality; Heigai pig; polyunsaturated fatty acids; growth performance
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1543

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with different n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratios on growth performance, meat quality, and fatty acid profile in Heigai pigs. A total of 54 Heigai finishing pigs (body weight: 71.59 ± 2.16 kg) were randomly divided into three treatments with six replications (three pigs per replication) and fed diets containing different n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios: 8:1, 5:1, and 3:1. Pigs fed the dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 8:1 had the highest feed to gain ratio (<i>p</i> < 0.01), carcass weight (<i>p</i> < 0.05), redness a* (<i>p</i> < 0.01), and yellowness b* (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Fatty acid compositions in longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were significantly changed (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Notably, the meat from the pigs fed with the low dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio had higher n-3 PUFA contents (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (<i>p</i> < 0.01). The triglyceride and total cholesterol contents were significantly decreased in SAT from the pigs fed with dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios of 5:1 (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and 3:1 (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Reducing n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio upregulated the expression of HSL (<i>p</i> < 0.05), CPT1 (<i>p</i> < 0.01), and FABP4 (<i>p</i> < 0.01) but downregulated ATGL (<i>p</i> < 0.01) expression. These results demonstrate that the lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio regulates meat quality and enhances the deposition of n-3 PUFA in Heigai pigs.