Evaluation of different fat sources and their combinations on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal score, and meat quality of pigs of different ages

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different dietary fat sources and their combinations on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal score and meat quality in pigs of different ages. For experiments 1, 2 and 3, a total of 108 weaned pigs, 96 growing pigs and 84 finishing pigs were divided into pens according to their body weight (BW) and gender. They were assigned to three dietary treatments according to a completely randomized block design. For experiment 1, the dietary treatments were as follows: 1) TRT1, basal diet with lard as the fat source; 2) TRT2, basal diet with soy oil as the fat source 3) TRT3, basal diet with lard and soy oil in a 1:1 ratio as the fat source. For experiments 2 and 3, dietary treatments were 1) TRT1, basal diet with tallow as the fat source, 2) TRT2, basal diet with crude palm oil as the fat source, 3) TRT3, basal diet with tallow and crude palm oil in a 1:1 ratio as the fat source. In later stages, increased BW (P = 0.041) and average daily gain (ADG) were observed in TRT3 compared to TRT1 in experiment 1 (P = 0.041). In experiment 2, higher BW (P = 0.029) and ADG (P = 0.031) were observed in TRT1 compared to TRT2 in week 1 and phase 1. Experiment 3 showed no effect (P > 0.05) of dietary fat sources. Although a minor effect was observed in weaning pig and growing pig, soy oil and lard; tallow and palm oil can be suitable substitutes for each other in overall pig production. • This study compared 4 largely available fat sources in swine diet. • Soybean oil and lard combination showed better growth performance in weaning pigs. • Palm oil and/or tallow based diets had similar effects on growing and finishing pigs.