Repeatability of pig body composition measurements using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and influence of animal size and subregional analyses

Abstract

Fifteen Large White × Landrace male pigs were used to investigate the influence of animal size and subregional analysis technique on dual energy X-ray absorptiometry body composition measurements and their repeatability. Pigs were scanned in triplicate with an Hologic QDR4500A X-ray absorptiometer at the beginning of the study (3 weeks of age, liveweight 5–10 kg) and then every 4 weeks until 19 weeks of age. Measurements made by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry included total tissue mass, lean tissue mass, fat tissue mass and bone mineral content. The QDR4500 software allows the scanned image to be divided into head, arms, legs and trunk using an in-built regional analysis grid that contains algorithms unique to each region. Different regional grid manipulations were performed at each scan to evaluate the effects of incorporating subregions into a whole body analysis over time. The dual energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements were highly repeatable and measurement repeatability improved as animal size increased. When results were averaged across regional grid placement and scan time, the most repeatable measurement was total tissue mass (CV = 0.21%), followed by lean tissue mass (CV = 0.59%), bone mineral content (CV = 2.50%) and fat tissue mass (CV = 2.71%). The placement of the regional analysis grid influenced the repeatability of all measurements except for total weight; however, this influence reduced with increasing animal size. It is recommended that the body of the scan image be positioned in the arm region and the head in the head region of the software regional analysis grid to measure whole body composition in pigs because it provides the most repeatable measure overall. Animal placement into the trunk region or utilising the full regional analysis option as specified by the manufacturer provided less repeatable results.