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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1643724

This article is part of the Research TopicOmega-3 Fatty Acids and Immunometabolism in Health and DiseaseView all 5 articles

Effects of dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio on growth performance and lipid metabolism in nursery pigs

Provisionally accepted
Junjie  GuoJunjie Guo1,2Xiaoqian  ChenXiaoqian Chen3Huiling  ZhuHuiling Zhu3Kan  XiaoKan Xiao3Yanbing  ZhangYanbing Zhang4,5Shiwei  ZhaoShiwei Zhao4,5Guoshun  ChenGuoshun Chen2Yulan  LiuYulan Liu3,6*
  • 1Gansu Agricultural University School of Animal Science and Technology, Lanzhou, China
  • 2Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
  • 3Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China
  • 4Shandong Zhongmu feed technology Co., Ltd, Shandong, China
  • 5Shandong Crelipids Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Shandong, China
  • 6Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

The proportion of n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in commercial pig feed is severely unbalanced. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios on growth performance and lipid metabolism of nursery pigs. A total of 240 nursery pigs (Duroc × Large White × Landrace) were fed diets with different n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios, including 10:1, 5:1, 3:1, and 1.5:1. Pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 1.5:1 or 3:1 had optimum average daily gain and feed to gain ratio (P < 0.05). The levels of serum lipids including total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein were the lowest in pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 1.5:1 (P < 0.05). The concentrations of serum insulin, adiponectin and leptin were the highest in pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 3:1 (P < 0.05).Pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 3:1 had the highest abundance of genes associated with fatty acid absorption and transportation (FATP4, and PPARγ), synthesis and storage (FAS and GPAT) and degradation (ATGL, HSL, and MAGL) in intestine (P < 0.05). Pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 1.5:1 had the lowest abundance of genes associated with fatty acid absorption (CD36 and FABP4), synthesis and storage (ACC, FAS, ACLY, PAP, AGPAT, and GPAT) and degradation (CPT1 and HSL) in gastrocnemius muscle (P < 0.05). The mRNA expression of genes associated with fatty acid metabolism (FATP2, FATP5, FABP1, FABP4, LPL, ACS, ACLY, AGPAT, GPAT, CPT1, ATGL, and MAGL) was up-regulated in liver and subcutaneous fat of pigs fed diet with n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios of 1.5:1-5:1 (P < 0.05). In summary, diets with lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios improve growth performance, reduce blood lipids, facilitate lipid metabolism in intestine, liver and subcutaneous fat, and inhibit fatty acid absorption, synthesis and storage in gastrocnemius muscle in pigs.

Keywords: N-6 PUFA, n-3 PUFA, fatty acid, Lipid Metabolism, Nursery pigs

Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Chen, Zhu, Xiao, Zhang, Zhao, Chen and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Yulan Liu, Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, China

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