Apparent Fat Digestibilities and Performance Responses of Postweaning Swine Fed Diets Supplemented with Coconut Oil, Corn Oil or Tallow

Twenty-seven barrows weaned at 21 d of age were placed in nine stainless steel metabolism crates to evaluate the apparent fat digestibilities of three dietary lipid sources for four successive weeks. Coconut oil, corn oil or tallow were added at 8% to a corn-soybean meal-dried whey diet (1.25% lysine). The coconut oil diet contained >60% medium-chain fatty acids (≤C 14), whereas the corn oil and tallow diets provided >95% long-chain fatty acids (≥C 16). Experiment II evaluated the same three fat sources plus three combinations of two fat sources at a 1:1 ratio in a 28-d performance study using 204 pigs weaned at 23 d of age. In Exp. 1, apparent fat digestibility was higher the initial 3 wk postweaning for pigs fed the coconut oil diet, with tallow having the lowest and corn oil an intermediate fat digestibility. Apparent fat digestibilities improved each week postweaning, with digestibility differences between fat sources narrowing by wk 4. Percentage N retention was higher from the coconut oil than from the corn oil or tallow diet. When coconut oil was fed, there was a higher N retention (Exp. I), higher gains (P < .05) and feed intakes (P < .01) and a trend toward a lower serum urea concentration in Exp. II than when pigs were fed corn oil or tallow. When coconut oil was fed in combination with tallow or corn oil, gain and feed intake responses were intermediate to the other fat sources fed independently, but were higher (P < .05) than when the tallow:corn oil combination was fed. Feed-to-gain ratios were superior (P < .05) for the overall 4-wk period when pigs were fed coconut oil, alone or in combination, compared with pigs fed diets that contained tallow or corn oil.