Impact of zinc and copper in piglet feeds presented at JRP

The 51th Swine Research Days (JRP) were held in Paris last February 5-6.

A study from Ghent University (Belgium) showed that supplementation with pharmacological dosage of the standard zinc oxide or with lower dosage (110 and 220 mg/kg) of HiZox^®, a potentiated source of zinc oxide, reduced E.coli population in the piglets intestine compared to the negative control. A source of coated zinc oxide did not show any effect on the bacterial population.

Antibacterial effect of CoRouge^® was also demonstrated. An experiment, supervised by Dr Bikker from Wageningen University showed a stronger reduction in piglets intestinal E.coli with this source of copper(I) oxide compared to copper(II) sulphate:

These results may explain higher growth performance measured on piglets fed with these innovative sources of zinc and copper.