Impact of Feeding Different Fat Sources and Levels of Vitamin E Isoforms to Heavy Slaughter Weight (150 kg) Pigs: II. Belly and Bacon Quality

Two independent experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of dietary fat sources and vitamin E supplementation on the characteristics of belly and bacon from heavy slaughter weights (150 kg) pigs. In experiment 1, 64 individually fed pigs (32 barrows and 32 gilts) were randomly assigned to 1 of the 8 dietary treatments in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement. Four fat sources included cornstarch (CS), tallow (TW), corn oil (CO), and coconut oil (CN). Vitamin E supplementation included alpha-tocopheryl acetate (ATA) at 11 and 200 ppm. In experiment 2, individually fed pigs (n = 72; 36 barrows, 36 gilts) were randomly assigned to 12 dietary treatments in a 2 × 6 factorial arrangement. Fat sources were TW and CO, whereas vitamin E treatments included 4 levels of ATA (11, 40, 100, and 200 ppm) and 2 levels of gamma-tocopherol (GT; 40 and 100 ppm). In both experiments, pigs were humanely slaughtered at approximately 150 kg, and fresh belly characteristics were recorded 24 h postmortem. Bellies were commercially processed, and bacon quality was evaluated. In experiment 1, pigs fed CN exhibited the firmest belly, with greater lateral distance (P < 0.01) and belly angle (P < 0.01), and lowest vertical distance (P < 0.01) than pigs fed CS, TW, and CO. The increase of ATA levels from 11 ppm to 200 ppm decreased (P < 0.05) belly depth and slicing yield (P = 0.04). In experiment 2, pigs fed 40 and 100 ppm ATA provided heavier bellies (P = 0.02) than pigs fed the same levels of GT. Pigs fed TW exhibited firmer bellies than those fed CO. Furthermore, bacon from pigs fed TW exhibited lower slice cooking shrink (P = 0.02) than bacon slices from pigs fed CO. Bacon from pigs fed ATA exhibited greater raw slice weight (P = 0.03) and cooked slice weight (P = 0.01) than those fed GT. These results indicated that the use of elevated levels of ATA combined with saturated fatty acid sources such as TW in diets of heavy slaughter weight (150 kg) pigs could be a logical strategy to improve bacon quality.