Effects of adding minimally refined cottonseed oil or crude glycerol to diets containing 40% distillers dried grains with solubles (ddgs) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and pork fat quality of growing-finishing pig

Feeding corn DDGS increases unsaturation of pork fat which reduces fat firmness, shelf life of retail cuts and causes processing problems. Cottonseed oil contains cyclopropene fatty acids (CPFA) which can inhibit synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. Dietary crude glycerol can increase saturation of pork fat. This study evaluated the effects of adding cottonseed oil or crude glycerol to diets containing 40% corn DDGS on fat quality of growing-finishing pigs. Neither cottonseed oil nor crude glycerol supplementation improved pork fat quality as measured by belly firmness, Iodine Value (IV) of pork fat, and pork fat oxidation. Dietary cottonseed oil increased pork fat IV due to the high unsaturated fatty acids content of cottonseed oil. Therefore, supplementation of swine diets high in corn DDGS concentration with cottonseed oil or crude glycerol does not mitigate DDGS-induced soft carcass fat.