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Journal of Nutrition Vol. 79 No. 2 February 1963, pp. 117-123
Copyright © 1963 by American Society for Nutrition
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Copper and Zinc Interrelationships in the Pig1

H. D. Ritchie, R. W. Luecke, Betty V. Baltzer, E. R. Miller, D. E. Ullrey and J. A. Hoefer

Departments of Animal Husbandry and Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

In summary, the following results were obtained in this study:

1. Copper sulfate, when added to a high calcium (1.3%) basal diet at the rate of 125 or 250 ppm of copper, stimulated pig growth and prevented parakeratosis during all but the last week of a 15-week trial. The 250 ppm level of copper was much more effective in preventing parakeratosis than the lower level.
2. Symptoms of copper toxicity were observed after 12 weeks in pigs receiving 250 ppm of copper without added zinc. These pigs exhibited significant reductions in hemoglobin and hematocrit and their livers were found to contain extremely high levels of copper.
3. When 100 ppm of zinc were added to copper-supplemented rations, there was an improvement in growth rate; however, combinations of zinc with copper were essentially no better than zinc alone. Zinc prevented parakeratosis in all lots to which it was fed and appeared to furnish complete protection against copper poisoning. Supplemental zinc markedly reduced liver-copper levels.
4. An inverse relationship was observed between concentrations of iron and copper in the liver.
5. After 10 weeks, one-half the pigs fed the basal diet began receiving the same ration plus 250 ppm of copper. A slow but marked recovery from parakeratosis occurred during the ensuing 5 weeks; there was no gross evidence of a toxicosis resulting from the copper therapy.

1 Published with the approval of the Director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal Article no. 3049.

Manuscript received 27 August 1962.




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