Most nutritionists would suggest that as long as water is made freely
available to the pig, deficiency symptoms can be avoided, so they would
suggest that further research is not needed. Sadly, the assumed absence of
deficiency symptoms is based more on a lack of investigation than on any
empiricalscientifi c evidence (Fraser and Phillips, 1989). The limited data
that do exist would suggest that supplying good-quality drinking water to
pigs adlibitum will avoid deficiency symptoms in most, but not all, situations. Nursing and newly weaned pigs and sows in early lactation appear
to be the most at risk of experiencing inadequate intake (Fraser et al.,
1990; McLeese et al., 1992; Torrey et al., 2008; Figure 1).