Aldehydes are key for assessing dietary lipid oxidation and subsequent effects on pig growth performance

The relationship between lipid oxidation products (LOP) and pig performance is complicated by the dynamic process of lipid oxidation and the complex biochemical and physiological process of pig growth. Past experiments and reviews of scientific literature have revealed the shortcomings of common primary and secondary LOP parameters, such as peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AnV), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), in characterizing lipid oxidation and predicting pig growth performance. A review of 16 publications indicated that lipids rich in saturated fatty acids (e.g., lard, palm oil, and tallow) are less prone to oxidation resulting in no significant associations between their LOP and pig performance (average daily gain, ADG; average daily feed intake, ADFI; gain:feed, GF). In contrast, lipids rich in unsaturated fatty acids (e.g., canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil) can be readily oxidized to form LOP resulting in negative correlations between their LOP and pig performance. Using the dietary concentrations of PV and AnV in unsaturated lipids with pig performance predicted reductions of pig performance (using 100% for response of control animals) with moderate accuracy: ADG = 100.2 – (0.37 × PV) – (0.88 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 68, R² = 0.72; ADFI = 99.6 – (0.28 × PV) – (0.52 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 47, R² = 0.57; GF = 100.9 – (0.10 × PV) – (0.46 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 20, R² = 0.69. Furthermore, the accuracy of lipidic aldehydes to predict the growth performance of pigs fed unsaturated lipids was examined using stepwise regression analysis, showing that 2-undecenal, 4-hydroxynonenal, 2,4-undecadienal, and pentanal were most predictive of the reduction in ADG (P = 0.01, SD = 68, R² = 0.77); hexanal, 2-undecenal, 2,4-undecadienal, 2-heptenal, and 4-hydroxynonenal were most predictive of the reduction in ADFI (P = 0.01, SD = 43, R² = 0.68); and 4-hydroxynonenal, 2-undecenal, 2,4-heptadienal, pentanal, hexanal, 2-decenal, and 2-octenal were most predictive of the reduction in GF (P = 0.01, SD = 13, R² = 0.85). While the use of targeted aldehydes improved the accuracy of predicting growth performance reductions caused by the consumption of oxidized unsaturated lipids, the improvement in prediction accuracy of ADG and ADFI was minimal. In conclusion, LOP parameters, either a combination of PV and AnV measures or combinations of specific aldehydes, can reasonably estimate the negative impact of feeding oxidized lipids on pig performance.