Minerals and Mineral Utilization in Swine

Effects of dietary trace mineral levels on physiological responses, reproductive performance, litter performance, blood profiles, and milk composition in gestating sows

“…Moreover, serum copper and iron levels decreased linearly as dietary zinc levels increased at 24 h postpartum, which is consistent with a report by Hill et al [ 32 , 33 ] who indicated that sows fed 0, 50, or 500 mg/kg zinc had lower serum zinc and higher serum copper concentrations than sows fed 5,000 mg/kg zinc. The excess zinc inhibits absorption of copper resulting in copper deficiency and also reduces directly cellular uptake of iron [ 34 ], however, high intake of iron also could reduce the absorption of zinc [ 35 ] illustrating the antagonistic effect of dietary zinc to copper and iron was stronger than that of dietary iron to zinc, which can be a reason why serum copper and iron levels were decreased and serum zinc concentration was not changed at 24 h postpartum. In contrast, van Riet et al [ 24 ] stated that zinc and copper concentrations in the plasma did not respond to increased dietary zinc level from 46.6 to 124 mg/kg in gestating sows.…”