Dear Madam,

If you mean to add individual free fatty acids to ur feed then you have to be a bit carefull because such forms are highly prone to oxidative loss. Especially the more unsaturated ones. You may search for naturally rich sources of individual fatty acids and include in the diet while maintaining it isoenergetic and isonitrogenous

I suggest highlighting Mr. Cristian Araneda.

Jorge, may I ask why (and also what you mean by highlight)?

Adnan, Monyer, thank you for your input- it's greatly appreciated!

Any animals do you mean?

Differ from one type to another, but generally; These fatty acids are important for maintaining your Pets joint health. Look for Pets foods that contain fish oil or fish products, as well as flax seed or canola oil, which all contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. You can also purchase supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids.

Unlike farm animals; Diet Composition Drives Animal Health, Growth Rates, Production Costs & Financial Returns

As many who work have worked with fats and oils are undoubtedly aware, an important feature of fats and oils, known collectively as

lipids1

, is their versatility. Fats and oils serve a number of important nutritional and non-nutritional functions. They have multiple benefits

from optimizing pelleting products, machinery life, feed throughput and formula density; to controlling dust in feed mills and in barns; to

the ability to affect nutrient and energy levels, energy density, feed efficiencies and thermo-body regulation; to impacting animal growth

rates by influencing average daily growth (ADG) rates, particularly in younger pigs.

Before we get into the specifics of fat/oils as an energy source, it is often helpful to understand the primary components of feed rations,

as well as the principal drivers of feed costs which normally account for 60-70% of overall costs of production. Why is this important?

Feedstuff selection can often play a major role on operator profitability because most producers, unfortunately, are price takers vs.

price makers, and small savings in feed costs, or a corresponding improvement in feed efficiency or average daily gain, can drop to the

producer’s bottom line, multiplied across each pig in production.

Swine diets must be balanced to contain the necessary nutrients to nourish the animal. Required nutrients include energy, amino acids

(from proteins), minerals and vitamins. Recommended swine diets will vary depending on the nutrient requirements for pigs, which in

turn will vary according to their stage of production and health, gender and genetic line, lean growth rate, whether they are gestating,

producing or consuming milk, and ambient weather and barn conditions.2

When afforded ad libitum (“eat at will”) access to feed, pigs in experimental settings will eat until their energy requirements have been satisfied.

However, in commercial production most pigs do not enough energy to meet their energy needs for maximum protein deposition and growth. This

is one of the reasons why adding fat to the diet in commercial situations can improve growth rates that surpass university study (high intake)

conditions (Mike Tokach, KSU, personal communication, Apr 2012).

In addition, fat can be utilized not only to provide energy but fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids, and even molecular signaling

substances. Often the amino acid which is the most important limiting factor in grain-soybean meal diets is the amino acid lysine (used

in the synthesis of new tissue).3

It is the cereal grains which are used as base feed ingredients because they are low in fiber and high in

energy. However, all grains are deficient in protein quantity and quality, as well as minerals and vitamins, so additional ingredients are

normally required to balance the ration.

Soybean meal is an excellent source of amino acids, which forms the basis for balancing diets vs. looking to soybean meal simply for

its crude protein value. Diet formulation can be a bit tricky when fat is used since its impact is to reduce feed consumption. Lysine

requirements need to be increased so that animals obtain the required amounts to allow maximum growth to take place.4 For more

information on balancing swine diets, please see (van Heugten et al, 2007.)