Mineral and vitamin supplementation of diets for growing pigs. 5. Effects of supplementing grain/animal protein diets in commercial piggeries

Abstract

In two co-ordinated field experiments, each involving five to eight replicates, grainlanimal protein diets were restrictively fed to growing pigs. In experiment 1 a mineral-vitamin premix improved performance during early growth, compared with the diet supplemented with vitamins A and D3 alone. The results of experiment 2 showed that this response was most likely due to the presence of 250 ppm copper in the premix. There was no difference in performance between vitamins A and D3 or the mineralvitamin premix without copper. However, when the premix contained 250 ppm copper, growth was increased by 4.6% and feed conversion improved by 4.3%. A supplement of vitamins A and D3 was all that was needed to ensure sound performance.