Copper Supplementation for Weanling Pigs

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Abstract
Five experiments involving 320 pigs were conducted to study the effects of dietary copper sources and levels and estrogen therapy on weight gain, feed efficiency, hemoglobin and plasma ceruloplasmin levels in growing pigs. When the dietary level of copper was increased from 250 to 500 ppm, there was a consistent depression in gain, hemoglobin level and ceruloplasmin activity. Although there was a gain response in pigs fed diets supplemented with 250 ppm copper, there was no corresponding increase in ceruloplasmin activity. Pigs receiving injections of 60 mcg. of diethylstilbestrol per day had higher ceruloplasmin activity than controls, but gained no faster than the controls, and injections of 120 mcg. of estrone per day had no apparent effect on either ceruloplasmin activity or gain. The pigs fed diets supplemented with 250 ppm copper as copper-methionine, copper sulfate, or copper carbonate gained significantly more than the controls. Pigs fed copper sulfate or copper-methionine gained more and required less feed per unit of gain than did those fed copper carbonate, but the differences among copper sources were not significant. There were no significant differences in the deposition of copper in the liver of pigs fed diets supplemented with either copper-methionine or copper sulfate. Copyright © 1965. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1965 by American Society of Animal Science