| To evaluate the efficacy of a water soluble zinc amino acid complex on growth performance and immune response, two hundred eighty pigs were randomly allotted to four water treatments (10 pigs/pen; 0, 20, 40 and 80 mg of Zn/mL of water). Pigs were fed a common diet with added Zn from ZnO or Cu from CuSO 4. ADG, ADFI, G:F and ADWI were calculated. At d 23, pigs were challenged by IM injection with 12 microg LPS/kg BW. Prior to injection at h 0 and post-injection at h3 and 12, BW and rectal temperature (RT) were measured and blood collected from two pigs per pen. At h 0 and 3, only decreased in C-reactive protein (CRP; P < 0.05) was observed. At h 12, there were no differences (P > 0.05) in BW, TNF-alpha, cortisol, CRP or serum zinc concentration; however, increased zinc intake decreased serum copper concentration (P < 0.0001), and tended to increase RT (P < 0.10). From h 3-12, RT decreased (P < 0.05), CRP increased (P < 0.10), and serum copper concentration decreased (P < 0.05). From h 0-12, serum zinc (P < 0.10) and copper (P < 0.0001) concentration decreased. For growth performance, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in ADFI and ADWI among treatments. ADWI (R2 = 0.91) increased (P < 0.01) linearly from d 0-42. Daily zinc intake increased (P < 0.0001) throughout the experiment. During d 0-21, increasing zinc intake to increase (P < 0.10) ADG and BW at d 21 were observed. Furthermore, increasing zinc via water linearly improved (P < 0.05) G:F from d 0-21. For d 21-42, increasing zinc via water tended to improve ADG (P = 0.10) and BW (P = 0.12) at d 42 and linearly improved (P < 0.05) G:F for d 0-42. In conclusion, supplementing nursery pig drinking water soluble zinc resulted in linear improvements of ADG and G:F for the first 3 weeks post-weaning, and improved G:F for the entire nursery period without beneficial effects on alleviating stress or cytokine concentration, but resulted in a lower acute phase protein concentration under immune challenge. |
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