EFFECT OF BETAINE SUPPLEMENTATION AND BREED ON THE FATTY ACID COMPOSITION AND ADIPOCYTE SIZE AND DISTRIBUTION IN BACKFAT AND MUSCLE LIPIDS IN PIGS

A comparison was made between pigs from the Danube white breed (DW) and the cross breed Danube white × Landrace (DW × L) to study the effect of betaine supplementation and breed on the fatty acid composition of the triacylglycerols in the backfat and m. longissimus dorsi, as well as the adipocyte size and distribution in these depots.The fatty acid composition was mostly influenced by the animal breed, compared to the betaine supplementation.Pigs from DW × L showed significantly lower amounts of 18:0 (P<0.01) in the backfat and 14:0 in the muscle triacylglicerols (P<0.01)than DW.The proportion of 16:0 was influenced by both betaine (P<0.05) and breed (P<0.01) in muscle triacylglycerols.Breed affected significantly the content of monounsaturated fatty acids in the backfat as the pigs of DW breed had lower amounts of 16:1 (P<0.05) and 18:1 (P<0.01),but the content of the latter was dependent on the presence of betaine as well (P<0.05).After betaine supplementation the average size of the adipocytes in the backfat was lower in DW and higher in DW × L (P<0.05).Compared to the DW the crossbred pigs had significantly higher diameter of the adipose cells (P<0.001).Breed influence on the adipocytes distribution in backfat and two of the cell populations in the muscle was highly significant (P<0.001).Dietary betaine supplementation affected only one cell population for both backfat and longissimus muscle (P<0.05).