Exocrine pancreatic secretion is stimulated in piglets fed fish oil compared with those fed coconut oil or lard.

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding diets containing fat sources with different fatty acid composition (fish oil, coconut oil or lard, 10 g/100 g diet) on exocrine pancreatic secretion in piglets after weaning. A total of 16 barrows were weaned at 4 wk of age; 3 d later, they were surgically fitted with a catheter in the pancreatic duct for continuous collection of pancreatic juice. Collections of pancreatic juice were made every other day starting 4 d postsurgically. Piglets fed the fish oil diet secreted a significantly greater volume of pancreatic juice than piglets fed the coconut oil or lard diets. The output [U/(h. kg(0.75))] of lipase was higher in piglets fed fish oil than in piglets fed lard or coconut oil. The output of colipase was greater in piglets fed fish oil and coconut oil than in those fed lard. The dietary treatments did not affect the output of carboxylester hydrolase. The output of trypsin was significantly lower in piglets fed lard than in piglets fed fish oil or coconut oil diets and the output of carboxypeptidase B was greater in those fed the fish oil diet. Protein, chymotrypsin, carboxypeptidase A, elastase and amylase outputs did not differ among the dietary treatment groups. The apparent digestibilities of nutrients and energy were measured in feces and did not differ among groups. Thus, the greater output of lipase in fish oil-fed piglets did not result in a greater digestibility of fat in this diet.