Résumé — Au total, 24 porcelets de la race Alentejana (six animaux par traitement) sevrés à 21 jours ont été utilisé pour l'étude de l'adaptation digestive et métabolique des animaux à l'utilisation du son weeks of age were randomly affected to four treatments including two levels of wheat bran (0 or 15°/) and two sources of fat (5°/ of olive oil or 5% of beef tallow) in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. The effects of the level of wheat bran and fat source (olive oil or beef tallow) were evaluated on growth performance, faecal apparent digestibility (FAD) and activity of pancreatic and intestinal digestive enzymes. In addition, the effect of the diet on the serum level of glucose, urea, cholesterol and triglycerides was measured prior and during 5 h after an experimental meal. The inclusion of wheat bran to the diet decreased the FAD of energy by 3 and 6 percentage units in the presence of olive oil and tallow, respectively. A further reduction in the FAD of ether extract was observed when animals were fed wheat bran 65.4 versus 56.9°/, respectively. There is a significant (P < 0.01) interaction between fibre level and fat source on the FAD of NDF and hemicellulose, so the addition of wheat bran increased the FAD of these fractions only in the presence of olive oil. Compared to the diet containing beef tallow, FAD of dry matter and energy were increased by 2 and 4.5 percentage units by the addition of olive oil in the diet. Moreover, the FAD of ether extract was significantly higher (P < 0.01) for the diets containing olive oil (70%) than for those supplemented with tallow (52%). Despite an increase in the weight of the pancreas in piglets fed diets supplemented with wheat bran, total or specific activity of pancreatic enzymes were not significantly affected by the composition of the diet. The level of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and that of triglycerides were not affected by the addition of tallow and consequently by the increase in dietary cholesterol.