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Efficacy of Selenium and Vitamin E Injections in the Prevention of White Muscle Disease in Young Swine^{1, 2,}

The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210 and Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster 44691

Abstract

Two experiments involving 207 pigs were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of injecting selenium and/or -tocopherol in preventing the vitamin E-selenium deficiency syndrome in young swine. Pigs were obtained from sows kept under confinement conditions (two generations) and fed natural ingredients in which the pantothenic acid requirement for reproduction was being evaluated. Sow diets contained an average of 1.47 mg of -tocopherol per 100 g and .06 ppm of selenium. Within a few days after weaning (6 weeks postpartum) several pigs suddenly died with lesions of the vitamin E-selenium deficiency syndrome. The remaining pigs were randomly placed (within litter) in one of four treatment groups. The treatments were: 1. control (no injection), 2. Intramuscular (IM) injection of -tocopherol (68 IU in experiment 1 and 200 IU in experiment 2), 3. selenium (1 mg) IM injection and 4. the combination of treatments 2+3. The pigs were offered the same diet fed the sow after weaning to 10 weeks of age and a 16% crude protein corn-soybean meal diet thereafter.

Results showed that 80 and 33% of the control animals died in experiments 1 and 2, respectively, with confirmed classical lesions of the vitamin E-selenium deficiency syndrome. When -tocopherol was injected, death losses were reduced to SO and 11%, respectively, for the two experiments when compared with the control animals. The pigs which died after injection with -tocopherol showed gross and histological deficiency lesions similar to the control animals. No pigs were lost in either experiment on treatments 3 or 4 when selenium or the combination of selenium and -tocopherol was injected. High SGOT values were observed in both experiments for control pigs and those injected with -tocopherol; whereas, SGOT levels were lower in those pigs injected with selenium. After being fed a conventional 16% crude protein corn-soybean meal diet (14 weeks postpartum) all pigs had normal SGOT levels.

¹ Approved for publication as Journal Article No. 89–72 by the Associate Director of Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster.

² Appreciation is expressed to L. Mangan and J. Foster, Western Branch, O.A.R.D.C. for the collection of data and Drs. L. A. Swiger and C. R. Weaver for their help in statistical analysis.

³ Department of Animal Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus.

⁴ Department of Veterinary Science, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster.

⁵ Present address: U. S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Nebraska 68933.

⁶ Department of Animal Science, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster.

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