Effect of dietary supplementation of organic trace minerals on the performance of sows and their offsprings

Trace minerals are essential for growth, reproduction and health of pigs. Organic form of trace minerals is found to be better available compared to inorganic form in animals. This study aimed to assess the effect of dietary supplementation of organic trace minerals at different levels on the performance of sows and their progeny. Control diet was prepared by supplementing inorganic trace minerals at 100% of requirement and test diets were prepared by supplementing organic trace minerals at 100% and 75% of requirement as per NRC (2012). Each diet was assigned to six sows from 90th day of gestation to farrowing (gestation diet, fixed diet allowance) and from farrowing to weaning (lactation diet, ad libitum feeding). The daily feed consumption, body weight, body weight changes and backfat thickness of sows remained similar among different groups during gestation and lactation phases. The number of total litters born, live litters born, stillbirths and piglets weaned including percentage survivability did not differ significantly among experimental groups. No significant effect was observed in duration of farrowing and wean to estrus interval. The body weight and average daily gain of piglets born to different experimental groups were similar to each other. The complete blood profile, serum enzymes (SGOT, SGPT, ALP, CRT) and protein fractions (total protein, albumin, globulin) of sows were comparable among different groups. It was concluded that that organic trace minerals can be incorporated at 75 % of the requirement without affecting productive and reproductive performance of sows.