Department of Animal Science
Date of this Version
2006
Abstract
Increasing concentrations of vitamin B12 were fed to 144 weanling pigs (weaned 13-14 days) in two, five-week trials. Pigs were fed one of six diets: NC, negative control, basal diet without supplemented vitamin B12; or the basal diet with the inclusion of 100% (1X, 7.94 μg/lb), 200% (2X, 15.87 μg/lb), 400% (4X, 31.75 μg/lb), 800% (8X, 63.49 μg/lb), or 1,600% (16X, 126.98 μg/lb) of NRC requirements for the 11- to 22-lb pig. Each trial was divided into two phases: phase 1, day 0 - day 14 and phase 2, day 14 - day 35. Throughout phase 1, there were no differences among treatments, although ADG (average daily gain) and ADFI (average daily feed intake) increased linearly (P< 0.1). During phase 2, the inclusion of B12 resulted in a linear increase (P< 0.05) in ADG with pigs receiving the 16X treatment (126.98 μg/lb) having the greatest gains (ADG = 1.24 lb) in contrast with pigs receiving the control diet (ADG = 1.08 lb). Average daily feed intake increased linearly (P< 0.05) with pigs receiving the control diet consuming less (P< 0.1) than the 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X treatments during phase 2. Overall (phase 1 and phase 2), ADG increased (P< 0.01) as much as 0.13 lb (16X treatment, 126.98 μg/lb) over the negative control with the inclusion of vitamin B12. Increased concentrations of B12 resulted in a linear increase (P< 0.05) in ADG and ADFI overall. This study suggests that feeding levels of vitamin B12 above the NRC recommendation may improve weight gain and feed intakes of weanling pigs.
Comments
Published in 2006 Nebraska Swine Report, edited by Duane Reese; published and copyright © 2006 Animal Science Department, University of Nebraska – Lincoln.