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The intake of linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in relation to average daily weight gain (ADG) was studied in growing-finishing pigs kept on smallholdings in Central Vietnam. Groups of three piglets each were assigned randomly to 12 farms, where they were fed on local feedstuffs according to the farmer's choice but were given a restricted amount of dry matter according to a preset feeding regimen. On arrival at the farms, the pigs weighed 10.4 +/- 0.9 kg (mean +/- SD, n = 36) and at 130 days of age they weighed 45.4 +/- 9.6 kg. Dietary LA concentration ranged from 1.34 to 2.41 g/MJ metabolizable energy (ME) and ALA from 0.06 to 0.33 g/MJ ME. On a farm level, dietary LA and ALA concentrations were significantly correlated with their concentrations in adipose tissue, both correlation coefficients being 0.63. Dietary protein concentration and protein:energy ratio were significantly correlated with ADG, the correlation coefficients being 0.68 and 0.64. For individual piglets there were significant correlations between either LA or ALA in adipose tissue and ADG, the correlation coefficients being 0.37 and 0.45. Dietary protein concentration or protein:energy ratio was correlated with the dietary contents of LA and ALA. It is uncertain whether LA and ALA intake had a causal relationship with ADG. Since dietary LA levels were above the LA requirement, LA intake may not have limited growth. It is suggested tentatively that, through enhanced disease resistance, supplementation with ALA of the diets on the farms studied might have a positive influence on ADG.

We investigated whether the addition of either spinach or sweet-potato leaves to the diet of growing pigs, kept in small holdings in Central Vietnam, would improve growth performance. A control diet was formulated and mixed with each of the vegetables to a final concentration of 15% of the total dietary dry matter. The diets were fed to the pigs from 70 to 100 days of age on six different smallholder farms in Central Vietnam. There were three animals per treatment group per farm and biopsies of adipose tissue were analysed for their contents of alpha-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. The diets without and with vegetables contained on average 0.14 and 0.32 g alpha-linolenic acid per MJ metabolizable energy. The relative percentage of alpha-linolenic acid in adipose tissue was raised by the intake of the vegetables. Eicosapentaenoic acid was not detectable in adipose tissue and the level of docosahexaenoic acid was unchanged. There was a significant stimulatory impact of the intake of either spinach or sweet-potato leaves on growth performance of the growing pigs. It is suggested that an adipose tissue content of alpha-linolenic acid less than 1% of total fatty acids does not allow maximum growth in growing pigs.