Author Description

This thesis concerns the influence of essential dietary fatty acids on the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue and growth performance of growing pigs kept on small holdings in Central Vietnam. Essential fatty acids cannot be synthesized by the body and have to be ingested with the feed. There are two families of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) that cannot be metabolically interconverted. It is well-known that the quantitative intakes of n-6 and n-3 PUFAs are reflected in the adipose tissue of non-ruminants. This implies not only that the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue can be modulated by diet, but also that the adipose tissue composition can be used as an index of the qualitative PUFA intake.