A multivariate study of the triacylglycerols composition of the subcutaneous adipose tissue of Iberian pig in relation to the fattening diet and genotype

The triacylglycerol (TGs) composition of 1, 560 samples of subcutaneous fat of Iberian purebred and crossbred (iberianxDuroc) pigs reared extensively on three different feeding systems: montanera (M), cebo (C) and recebo (R), were determined. Seventeen TG species were identified by Gas Chromatography and six of them (POO, PSO, POL, 000, SOO, OOL) accounted for 75%. Significant differences (p < 0.01) were found for the majority of TG species among the three types of feeding. The effect of the duration of montanera on the TG composition was also explored and a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) was found with the following TGs: 000, SOL, OOL and OLL. After 110 days of Montanera, all the samples showed a percentage of 000 and OOL over 9.5% and 4.5% respectively Genotype also showed a significant effect (p < 0.01) on the TG composition. Principal Component and Linear Discriminant analyses were applied to the data set. No clear separation among the three groups (M, R and C) according to the TG profile was achieved. Only M and C groups were clearly separated according to their TG composition.