Cholesterol content and fatty acid composition in Longissimus dorsi muscle of purebred and crossbred pigs

Abstract

The fat and cholesterol contents, and fatty acid composition in Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle differ between purebred and crossbred pigs was determined. Duroc purebred (D, n=10), two-way crossbred (Largewhite x Landrace; LWLR, n = 10), and three-way crossbred [Duroc x (Largewhite x Landrace); DLWLR, n=10] pigs were used in this study. Each group consisted of 2 genders (5 barrows and 5 gilts). All pigs were reared under the same housing and feeding conditions for 6 months until slaughtered at 110 ± 5 kg live weight, following which, LD muscle was collected from the left side of each carcass for subsequent analyses. The results showed that D had higher (P<0.01) fat percentage than LWLR and DLWLR. Neither pig group nor gender affected cholesterol content (P > 0.05). For fatty acid composition, D presented highest concentrations of C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:0, C18:1n9c, C18:2n6c, C18:2n6c, C20:1, SFA (saturated fatty acid), MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid), and PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) than those recorded in samples obtained from DLWLR and LWLR (P<0.01). DLWLR had significantly higher concentrations of C16:1, C18:1n9c and MUFA (P<0.05), with a tendency of higher concentration of C16:0, C18:0, C18:2n6c, C20:1, SFA, and PUFA than LWLR (P<0.1). The ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acid (P/S) was more favorable in LWLR compared with those of D and DLWLR (P<0.01). There was a significant group x gender interaction for the concentration of C23:0 (P<0.05). In Duroc purebred pigs, higher amount of C23:0 was observed in gilts than that in the barrow. However, barrow of DLWLR showed higher C23:0 than the amount recorded in the gilts. Fat percentage positively correlated with the concentrations of C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C18:0, C18:1n9c, C18:2n6c, C20:1, C23:0, SFA, MUFA, PUFA, and P/S (P <0.01) but negatively correlated with C23:0 (P<0.05).