Thirty-eight purebred Iberian sows were used in two consecutive trials to determine theinfluence of different nutritional strategies applied to the litters on body composition andretention of some trace minerals in the body of suckling piglets weaned at 35 d of age. Exclusivelymilk feeding (M), conventional suckling (CS) and intermittent suckling (IS) werestudied. Only litters on CS and IS treatments had free access to creep feed from day 15onwards. Those of the CS group had continuous access to their dams. Piglets on the IS treatmentwere progressively separated from the sow during 6 h, 8 h and 10 h on days 29–30,31–32 and 33–34, respectively. Eight piglets at birth (4 per trial replicate) and one pigletper litter on day 35 of age were slaughtered and used to study whole-body content of Fe,Cu and Zn, and its distribution in the different body compartments. Mineral retention wascalculated following the comparative slaughter procedure. Average contents of these traceelements in Iberian sows’ milk were Fe 1.65, Cu 1.46 and Zn 11.10 mg/kg, whereas thoseanalyzed in creep feed were Fe 240, Cu 170 and Zn 2900 mg/kg (as fed). The body concentrationof Fe at weaning was unchanged between groups, although Fe stored in liver tendedto be higher in IS piglets (32.3, 30.5 and 50.0 mg/kg for M, CS and IS piglets respectively,P=0.101). No differences (P>0.05) were observed in whole-body or liver concentration ofCu between groups, although Cu concentration was increased (P<0.01) in some body compartments(blood and head/feet/tail) in CS and IS compared to M piglets. Significant effectof the feeding regimen was found in body levels of Zn in weaned piglets, as retention andbody content resulted progressively increased as follows: IS > CS > M groups (P<0.001), withsignificant differences for all body parts. Zn liver concentration increased around 3-fold increep fed piglets compared to milk fed piglets (53, 149 and 157 mg/kg for M, CS and ISpiglets, respectively, P=0.029). It may be concluded that stimulation of consumption ofsolid feed containing pharmacological levels of these trace elements in the suckling pigletmay lead to some changes in body content of Fe and Cu at weaning, and increases greatly Znbody levels. Beneficial consequences of these nutritional practices warrant to be evaluated,as they cause substantial increase in environmental contamination
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