Effects of the dietary incorporation of olive leaves on growth performance, digestibility, blood parameters and meat quality of growing pigs.
BACKGROUND
In a preliminary study the oxidative stability and tocopherol content of pork meat were shown to be improved by olive leaf (OL) feed supplementation at 50 and 100 g kg(-1) . However, growth performance was affected negatively. Therefore the objective of the present study was to assess the influence of OL supplementation at a lower level on feed digestibility, growth performance and meat quality.


RESULTS
Pigs were fed a basal diet (control), a basal diet with 25 g OL kg(-1) (OL2.5) or a basal diet with 50 g OL kg(-1) (OL5). The incorporation of OL significantly decreased growth rates (P = 0.010) and backfat thickness (P = 0.035) and increased feed/gain ratio (P = 0.032) in the OL5 group. Feed/gain ratio increased more for females (P = 0.001). The incorporation of OL decreased the crude fat (P = 0.006) and protein (P = 0.037) digestibility of both OL diets. Nevertheless, OL was effective in increasing the tocopherol content of meat (P = 0.009). However, meat from pigs fed the OL diets showed similar conjugated diene content, pH and colour parameters to that from pigs fed the control diet, even after 6 days of storage at 4 °C.


CONCLUSIONS
The data indicate that olive leaves may be included in pig diets at 25 g kg(-1) in order to improve the tocopherol content of meat without excessively compromising growth performance.
Centro de Investigação em Química, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, N° 687, P-4169-007, Porto, Portugal; Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, N° 687, P-4169-007, Porto, Portugal.
Fátima
F
Paiva-Martins
Teresa
T
Ribeirinha
Aníbal
A
Silva
Rita
R
Gonçalves
Victor
V
Pinheiro
José L
JL
Mourão
Divanildo
D
Outor-Monteiro
D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D004063:Digestion; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000592:standards*; D031658:Olea / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D015430:Weight Gain
oleuropein; olive leaf; oxidative stability; pig performance; pork meat; tocopherol