Effect of Dietary Manganese on Baby Pig Performance and Tissue Manganese Levels

Abstract

Three experiments involving 162 baby pigs were conducted to study the influence of manganese intake on performance and tissue measurements. The results indicate that 0.4 ppm manganese in the ration is sufficient to meet the requirement of the baby pig and that natural rations contain sufficient manganese for normal growth. No toxicity symptoms were observed in pigs fed 4000 ppm manganese. However, there was evidence of reduced growth at the highest level fed (4000 ppm). The manganese content of bone, liver and hair reflected the dietary manganese intake, but this was not clearly shown for kidney, loin or spleen. Bone alkaline phosphatase activity was reduced in pigs fed low manganese rations, whereas, the alkaline phosphatase activity of the liver, kidney or serum was not affected. Manganese treatments did not significantly affect the liver and kidney arginase activity.