Vitamins for Swine
V. B. Mayrose, and D. R. Zimmerman, Department of Animal Sciences
AS-371 Sept. 1967
Introduction
The addition of specific vitamins to swine rations is a necessity. The cost of adding these vitamins is not great and is usually less than five per cent of the total feed cost.
What are vitamins?
Vitamins are organic compounds of relatively simple structure. They are required by pigs in very small amounts. Vitamins are not used as sources of energy or amine acid nitrogen, but they are needed for specific metabolic reactions to proceed normally. Lack of a vitamin produces certain characteristic deficiency symptoms in the pig.
Which vitamins should be added?
Each vitamin has been found to have specific functions in the body chemistry.
Most vitamins must be furnished in the diet. However, a few can be made from other chemicals within the body, and a few are produced by microorganisms living in the intestinal tract. Natural ingredients used in swine rations also furnish some vitamins. In fact, only a few vitamins need to be added to swine rations made up of normal feedstuffs. Vitamins which should be added to swine rations usually include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B\2> riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid. Sometimes vitamin E and choline are also added.
Table 1 gives the primary functions, symptoms of deficiency and sources of
vitamins commonly added to swine diets. Table 2 gives important information on other vitamins required by swine.
Vitamin requirements and allowances
Research has been conducted to determine the amounts of each vitamin required in the pig's diet. All of this work has been surveyed and evaluated by a group of swine nutritionists on the National Research Council (NRC). They periodically publish a list of nutrient requirements for swine. Tables 3 and 4 present the most recent NRC vitamin requirements for swine. The requirements for breeding stock are presented in "amounts per animal per day" because most breeding stock are now limit-fed specific amounts of feed per day.
The levels and amounts listed in the table are requirements. They do not include extra amounts for a margin of safety. A margin of safety is necessary for several reasons. The vitamin content of feedstuffs varies because of variety, length of storage, processing conditions, and so forth. Environmental conditions (such as temperature, humidity) influence vitamin requirements. There are individual (genetic) differences in vitamin requirements. Some vitamins lose potency with time in mixed feeds.
The vitamin requirement plus a margin of safety is called a recommended allowance. One way to provide margins of safety is to furnish the NRC requirements in a vitamin premix and rely on the vitamin content of feedstuffs for the margins of safety. This
Cooperative Extension Service, PURDUE UNIVERSITY, Lafayette, Indiana
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NUTRITION