[The effect of palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids on thermogenesis in the model experiment in sows]

An animal model experiment was conducted with nine adult sows to study the effects of long-chain fatty acids on thermogenesis when different fatty acids were replaced for 30% of the energy of a basal diet based on cereals and soybean meal. The acids were fed as commercial products containing as main constituent either palmitic acid, oleic acid, or linoleic acid, according to a latin square design in experimental periods 2 to 4. In periods 1 and 5 the sows were submitted to basal diet alone. Digestibility of palmitic acid was only 36%, whereas the unsaturated fatty acids were highly absorbed (90%). Interaction effects of the undigested proportion of the long-chain fatty acids with the basal diet in hindgut fermentation could be ruled out since a supplementary experiment on three sows showed no influence of infusion of oleic or linoleic acid into the caecum on the energy utilization of the basal diet. There was no significant differences in thermogenesis among the fatty acids. Heat production in the treatment periods averaged -1.2% as compared to the basal diet periods. This result was in accordance with the value -1.0% calculated theoretically for the reduction in heat production in the treatment periods. Thus, the data did not indicate any stimulating effect of long-chain fatty acids on heat production, and utilization of energy of fatty acids occurred within the obligatory thermogenesis.