The effects of copper source (tribasic copper chloride or copper sulfate) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and pen cleanliness in finishing pigs

Abstract Text:

A total of 1,143 pigs (initial BW 25.1 kg) were used in a 111-d study to determine the effects of tribasic copper chloride (TBCC, IntelliBond C; Micronutrients, Indianapolis, IN) or copper sulfate (CuSO₄) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and pen cleanliness. Pens of pigs were allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments, balanced on average pen weight in a completely randomized design with 25 to 28 pigs per pen and 7 replications per treatment. Treatments included a corn-soybean meal positive control diet, a high by-product diet with 30% dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGS) and 15% bakery meal (negative control), or the negative control diet with 75 or 150 ppm added Cu from CuSO₄ or TBCC. All diets were formulated at 0.05% below the SID Lys requirement. Pigs fed the negative control diet had decreased (P<0.01) G:F and tended to have  increased (P<0.08) ADFI compared to those fed the positive control. No Cu source × level interactions were observed. Pigs fed increasing CuSO₄ had increased (linear; P<0.05) ADFI and final BW with a tendency (linear; P<0.10) for increased ADG and lower G:F. Pigs fed increasing TBCC had increased (linear; P<0.01) ADG, ADFI, final BW and HCW. Wash time (s/pen) increased (P<0.01) by 64% for negative control pens compared to positive control pens, however wash time was not influenced by Cu. In summary, increasing dietary CuSO₄ or TBCC in high by-product diets increased growth and feed intake, resulting in increased final BW for pigs fed both copper sources and HCW for pigs fed TBCC without influencing pen wash time.

 

Table   1. Effects of CuSO4 and TBCC on growth, carcass characteristics, and   wash time
							Probability,   P <1
	Positive Control	Negative Control	CuSO4		TBCC		Pos. vs.   Neg.	CuSO4	TBCC2
Item			75	150	75	150		linear	linear
d 111 BW, kg	124.5	124.2	127.6	127.5	128.4	130.0	0.87	0.05	0.01
ADG, kg	0.90	0.91	0.94	0.93	0.94	0.95	0.76	0.08	0.01
ADFI, kg	2.28	2.34	2.44	2.44	2.46	2.45	0.08	0.02	0.01
G:F	0.40	0.39	0.39	0.38	0.38	0.39	0.01	0.10	0.99
HCW, kg	92.5	91.8	93.3	93.1	93.6	95.3	0.59	0.29	0.01
Wash time, s/pen	268	417	413	383	373	389	0.01	0.27	0.36

¹SEM was 2.04, 0.011, 0.043, 0.004, 1.19, and 21.5 for d 111 BW, ADG, ADFI, G:F, HCW, and wash time, respectively.

²Quadratic response (P< 0.05) for ADFI.

Keywords: finishing pig, copper, wash time