Effects of Altering the Omega-6 to Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Starter Diets on Piglet Inflammatory Response

Are the diet formulations published somewhere? Interesting results...

The diet formulations have not been published as of yet. They were wheat and barley based (ranging from 24-42% wheat and 10-20% barley) with 21-24% soybean meal. We adjusted the fatty acid profile using corn, flax seed meal (13% fat), corn oil, flax oil, tallow (control diet) and fish oil (5:1 fish diet). Diets also contained 2.5% spray dried animal plasma and 15% dried whey as well as all the required vitamins and minerals to balance them according to NRC 1998.

Thanks. Why do you think the plant 10:1 ratio did not maximize the inflammatory response? BTW, I knew Denise many years ago. Great work....

It is possible that pigs did not consume diets long enough prior to the challenge to see the expected result of maximized response with the 10:1 diet. However, it is also possible that the increased response observed by the 5:1 pigs when challenged is beneficial, in that they have a greater ability to mount a response when needed but have a possible lower 'background level' when not challenged. Further work needs to be done to determine what is 'beneficial' and what is 'detrimental' to the pigs at this time. P.S. Denise says Hi!