Effect of dietary trace mineral concentration and source (inorganic vs. chelated) on performance, mineral status, and fecal mineral excretion in pigs from weaning through ﬁnishing 1,2 B. L. Creech*, J. W. Spears* 3 , W. L. Flowers*, G. M. Hill†, K. E. Lloyd*, T. A. Armstrong* 4 , and T. E. Engle* 5 *Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695-7621; and †Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1225 ABSTRACT: Two hundred and sixteen weanling gilts (6.65 ± 0.08 kg) were used to determine the effects of decreasing supplemental concentrations of Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mn, and trace mineral source (inorganic vs. chelated) on growth performance, mineral status, and fecal mineral concentrations from weaning through de- velopment. The study was conducted over three trials with 72 pigs in each trial. Gilts were blocked by weight and randomly assigned to either 1) control, 2) reduced inorganic, or 3) reduced chelated trace minerals. The control diet was supplemented with 25, 150, 180, and 60 mg/kg of Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn (in sulfate forms), respectively, during the nursery phase and 15, 100, 100, and 40 mg/kg of supplemental Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn, respectively, during the growing and gilt-developer phases. Reduced inorganic and reduced chelated treat- ments were supplemented during all phases with 5, 25, 25, and 10 mg/kg of Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn, respectively. The reduced chelated treatment supplied 50% of the supplemental Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn in the form of metal proteinates, with the remainder from sulfate forms. Performance by control pigs did not differ from pigs fed the reduced trace mineral treatments during the nursery and grower-development periods. Gain:feed Key Words: Copper, Pigs, Zinc 2004 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2004. 82:2140–2147 Introduction Long-term application of swine lagoon efﬂuent (Mueller et al., 1994) and broiler litter (Kingery et al., 1 Use of trade names in this publication does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Agric. Res. Service or criticism of similar products not mentioned. 2 This research was supported by grants from the Animal Waste Six-State Consortium and the North Carolina State Univ. Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center, and by a gift from Chelated Minerals Corp., Salt Lake City, UT. Appreciation is extended to Akey, Lewisburg, OH, for supplying the vitamin premixes. 2140 was lower (P < 0.05) for pigs fed the reduced inorganic compared with those fed the reduced chelated treat- ment during the nursery period. Trace mineral source did not affect performance during the growing or gilt- developer phase. Plasma Zn concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity were higher (P < 0.01) in control pigs than in those receiving reduced trace minerals during the nursery and growing phases. Plasma Cu concentration and ceruloplasmin activity were gener- ally not affected by treatment. Hemoglobin concentra- tions were lower (P < 0.05) for the reduced inorganic compared with the reduced chelated treatment in the nursery phase. Fecal concentrations of Cu, Zn, and Mn were lower (P < 0.05) in pigs fed reduced trace minerals than in controls during all production phases. Fecal Zn concentration during the nursery and fecal Cu concen- trations during the growing and gilt-developer phases were lower (P < 0.05) in pigs fed the reduced chelated compared with the reduced inorganic treatment. Re- sults indicate that reducing the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn, and Fe typically supplemented to pig diets will greatly decrease fecal mineral excretion without negatively affecting pig performance from weaning through development. 1994) has resulted in increased soil concentrations of Zn and Cu. Zinc and/or Cu accumulation in soil has been implicated to reduced crop yields (Tucker, 1997; Matsui and Yano, 1998). 3 Correspondence—phone: 919-515-4008; fax: 919-515-4463; e- mail: Jerry_Spears@ncsu.edu. 4 Present address: Elanco Animal Health, Cary, NC 27511-6614. 5 Present address: Dept. of Anim. Sci., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins 80523-1171. Received September 26, 2003. Accepted March 22, 2004.