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Highlights • Dietary supplementation with lipids, such as flaxseed oil, can reduce lipogenesis in pigs and increase intramuscular fat content of pork simultaneously. • Oxidative problems in pork because of dietary inclusion of flaxseed oil can be alleviated by vitamin E supplementation. • Supplementation with 1% flaxseed oil + 1 to 5% poultry fat seemed to have no clear effects on carcass fat or IMF. • Supplementation with 220 IU vitamin E/kg increased carcass lean with 6% lipids, but had no clear effects on other criteria. Abstract Dietary lipid supplementation can reduce de novo lipogenesis and increase intramuscular fat content of pork simultaneously, and vitamin E supplementation can increase the oxidative stability of pork. A total of 96 pigs (Yorkshire) were used to investigate the effect of dietary lipid (0 or 1% flaxseed oil + 1, 3, or 5% poultry fat for diets supplemented with lipids) and vitamin E (11 or 220 IU/kg) supplementation in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments on growth performance, serum metabolites, and carcass traits of finisher pigs, and physical characteristics of pork. Forty-eight pens containing 2 gilts or 2 castrated males per pen were randomly assigned to 8 diets with 3 gilt pens and 3 castrated male pens per treatment. Pigs were switched from finisher-1 [initial body weight (BW): 54.3 ± 3.4 kg] to finisher-2 diets when the average pen BW reached 84.1 ± 4.0 kg. Standardized ileal digestible Lys and Ca and P were adjusted with the DE content accordingly to maintain constant Lys, Ca, and P to DE ratios. Pigs were harvested when they reached the target BW of 110.0 ± 3.0 kg. There were no lipid x vitamin E interactions in growth performance. As dietary lipids increased from 0 to 6%, average daily feed intake decreased linearly (P < 0.018) and gain to feed ratio improved linearly (P < 0.001) during the finisher-1, finisher-2, and overall phases. Supplementation with 220 IU vitamin E/kg reduced the efficiency of feed, Lys, and DE utilization for BW gain (P < 0.036) during the finisher-1 and overall phases. As dietary lipids increased, serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations increased linearly (P < 0.003). Supplementation of the diet with 1% flaxseed oil + 1, 3, or 5% poultry fat resulted in greater serum total protein, albumin, cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations (P < 0.037) compared with no lipid supplementation. Pigs fed the diets containing 0, 2, and 4% lipids and supplemented with 220 IU vitamin E/kg had greater 10th rib BF and lower fat-free lean than those fed the dies contained 11 IU vitamin E/kg, whereas 10th rib BF was lower and fat-free lean was greater in pigs those fed the diet containing 6% lipids and supplemented with 200 IU vitamin E/kg than those fed the diet contained 11 IU vitamin E/kg (lipid x vitamin E, P < 0.020). Dietary lipids had no effect on subjective marbling score and ether extract content of loin muscle or most other pork and loin muscle characteristics, but belly thickness and width increased (linear, P < 0.040) as dietary lipids increased. Vitamin E supplementation increased marbling score (P = 0.042), but it had no clear effect on loin muscle color (subjective, and L*, a*, and b*), ham and loin muscle pH, loin muscle characteristics, or belly firmness. As expected, feed intake decreased and feed efficiency improved progressively with increasing dietary lipid supplementation from 0 to 6%. Although there were interactions, dietary lipids seemed to have no clear effects on the carcass BF or fat-free lean. Similarly, dietary supplementation with 1% flaxseed oil + 1, 3, or 5% poultry fat had no effect on subjective marbling score or ether extract content of loin muscle. Supplementation with 220 IU vitamin E/kg increased carcass leanness with 6% dietary lipids, but increased carcass BF with 0 to 4% dietary lipids. Vitamin E supplementation increased subjective marbling score, but seemed to have no clear effects on loin muscle color, ham and loin muscle pH, loin muscle characteristics, or pork belly firmness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementing a simple corn-soybean meal (SBM) diet with multi-enzyme complexes, essential oils, and benzoic acid on growth performance, serum metabolite profile, serum cytokines, and intestinal microbiota in weanling pigs. Forty-eight gilts and 48 castrated males weaned at 3 to 4 wk of age (initial body weight, 7.96 ± 0.89 kg) were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments with 3 gilt and 3 castrated male pens per treatment and 4 gilts or 4 castrated males per pen. A complex diet containing palatable and digestible ingredients was formulated (1.30 g standardized ileal digestible Lys/kg) to serve as the positive control (POS) diet. A simple corn-SBM, negative control (NEG) diet was formulated to be isolysinic to the POS diet, and the NEG diet was supplemented with multi-enzyme complexes (ENZ) or multi-enzyme complexes, essential oils, and benzoic acid (ALL). All diets were formulated to meet or exceed the 2012 NRC nutrient requirements of pigs weighing 7 to 25 kg. During the fourth week, blood samples were collected to determine serum metabolite profile and cytokines, and fecal samples were collected for the enumeration of bacteria. Pigs had ad libitum access to feed and water throughout the 4-wk study. From d 0 to 7 and 7 to 14, pigs fed the POS diet had greater feed and Lys intake ( P < 0.05) and weight gain ( P < 0.05) than those fed the NEG and ALL diets, but there were no differences in those response criteria between pigs fed the POS and ENZ diets. Weight gain of pigs fed the ENZ diet was 17% greater than those fed the NEG diet during the second week ( P < 0.05), but it increased only numerically (16%) during the first week. Overall (d 0 to 28), pigs fed the POS diet consumed more feed, Lys, and digestible energy (DE; P < 0.05) and had greater weight gain ( P < 0.05) than those fed the other diets. Dietary treatments had no effect on the efficiency of feed, Lys, or DE utilization for weight gain during the study. Serum total protein in pigs fed the ENZ and ALL diets was greater ( P < 0.05) than those fed the POS and NEG diets. Pigs fed the ENZ diet had greater serum albumin ( P < 0.05) than those fed the NEG diet. Serum globulin and urea N were lower ( P < 0.05) and albumin to globulin ratio, glucose, and cholesterol were greater ( P < 0.05) in pigs fed the POS diet than those fed the other diets. Dietary treatments had no clear effect on serum cytokines or fecal microbiota. Pigs fed the POS diet grew faster and had lower serum urea N and globulin and greater serum glucose and cholesterol than those fed the other diets. Although supplementation of the NEG diet with multi-enzyme complexes seemed to have beneficial effect on growth performance during the first 2 wk of the study, supplementation of the NEG diet with various feed additives had no clear effects. Further research is needed to explore further the possibility of using a simple corn-SBM diet for weanling pigs by supplementation with multi-enzyme complexes, essential oils, and benzoic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]