Effect of Early Nutrition on the Development of Adipose Tissue in the Pig. I. Age Constant Basis

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Abstract
The effect of early nutrition on the development of adipose tissue was studied to investigate the possibility of employing nutritional manipulation as a means of changing the final fat mass in swine. Poland China and Duroc pigs were subjected to severe caloric restriction during the suckling period, and their carcass traits and adipose cellularity were compared to full-fed control pigs at 24 weeks of age. The underfed pigs showed a significantly lower dressing percent, greater proportion of bone tissue, significantly lower proportions of subcutaneous fat and less backfat thickness. They also had a significantly less absolute and relative quantities of ether extractable lipid in subcutaneous, muscle, viscera and bone tissue. All these findings indicated that the restricted feeding during the infantile stage retards the development of body tissue. This was especially true for those later developing tissues, which produced a more premature body composition at a given chronological age. The significantly lesser amount of subcutaneous fat mass in underfed pigs was explainedsolely by significantly smaller cell size and not by the number of adipose cells. In contrast to subcutaneous depots, the significantly less intramuscular fat in underfed pigs was due to a smaller number of adipose cells as well as smaller ceil size than controls, indicating that the nutritional manipulation could change the cell population in this particular adipose site. Copyright © 1973. American Society of Animal Science. Copyright 1973 by American Society of Animal Science.

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