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Vitamin E and Selenium for Growing and Finishing Pigs¹

Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station,⁴ Ames 50010

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding growing-finishing pigs diets deficient in vitamin E and selenium supplemented with dl-a-tocopheryl acetate, selenium or both. Pigs fed a Torula yeast diet supplemented with both vitamin E and selenium gained significantly faster than pigs fed a Torula yeast diet supplemented with either vitamin E or selenium alone. When a Promosoy diet was fed, supplemental vitamin E or selenium alone or in combination had no effect on gain. However, pigs fed the Promosoy diets gained faster than pigs fed the Torula yeast diet. The dietary treatments had no effect on feed/gain ratios. Pigs fed the deficient diets had elevated SGOT and LDH activities. Supplementing the diets with selenium decreased but did not completely suppress the elevation of SGOT and LDH. The enzyme activities of pigs fed supplemental vitamin E alone were essentially the same as those of pigs fed both vitamin E and selenium. Pigs fed the Torula yeast diets had higher SGOT activity than did pigs fed the Promosoy diets. The addition of vitamin E and selenium alone or in combination had no significant effect on serum potassium, sodium, chloride, urea nitrogen, blood glucose or hemoglobin. Pigs fed Promosoy diets had significantly higher serum urea nitrogen and lower hemoglobin than did pigs fed Torula yeast diets. Pigs fed the Torula yeast diets supplemented with selenium alone had edema, hyalinization of skeletal muscles and a yellowish-brown discoloration of body fat and tissues. Pigs fed the Torula yeast diets supplemented with both vitamin E and selenium showed some liver fibrosis, hyalinized skeletal muscle fibers and degenerative heart myofibrils. No tissue changes were observed in pigs fed a Torula yeast diet supplemented with vitamin E alone or in pigs fed the Promosoy diets supplemented with vitamin E and selenium alone or in combination.

¹ Journal Paper No. J-6958 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames. Project 1784.

² Present address: Central Soya, Decatur, Indiana.

³ Department of Veterinary Medicine.

⁴ Department of Animal Science.