Influence of the degree of hydrolysis of beef tallow on its absorption in the young pig

Abstract

Beef tallow was hydrolyzed to produce a series of fats with 3, 10, 20, 46, and 100% free fatty acids, which were incorporated at the level of 10% into semipurified diets. These diets along with a low-fat control diet were each fed to five piglets from 10 to 22 days of age. Tridodecyl glycerol ether was used as an indicator of fat absorption. Feces samples were collected between 19 and 22 days of age and the pigs were killed to allow samples of digesta to be collected. Analysis of feces and digesta allowed the progress of fat absorption to be monitored through the digestive tract. The corrected absorbability of the total lipid was between 88 and 93% for the partially hydrolyzed tallows, but was only 75% for the completely hydrolyzed tallow. The oleic acid was well absorbed (95–99%) in all the diets; palmitic and stearic acids were also well absorbed in the intact and partially hydrolyzed tallow (82–84% and 63–77%, respectively, for the palmitic and stearic acids), but their absorption was impaired in the completely hydrolyzed tallow (62% and 38%, respectively, for the palmitic and stearic acids).The flow of fatty acid through the digestive tract showed that the small intestine is the major site of fat uptake. Comparison of the amounts of fatty acids in the ileal digesta and in the feces showed that there was no change in the total amount of fat in the digesta as it passed through the large intestine.