EFFECTS OF HIGH DIETARY COPPER SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE COPPER ACCUMULATION AND TOTAL COPPER CONTENT IN FATTENING PIGS

The objective of this current study was to investigate the effects of high dietary copper supplementation on the tissue copper deposition, distribution, and total copper concentration in fattening pigs. A total of 24 (Landrace x Large white x Duroc) pigs with an average initial body weight (BW) of 30 +/- 1.05 kg were selected for the current experiment. At the beginning of the experiment, the pigs were randomly divided into four treatment groups with three replicate pens per treatment and two pigs per replicate and arranged in accordance to a completely randomized design based on the BW. The four treatment administered were as follows: 10 mg/kg, 45 mg/kg, 135 mg/kg, and 225 mg/kg of copper. The result indicates that the copper content in the liver, kidney, and heart increased with the increase in dietary copper composition. There was no significant difference in the copper content of the different visceral tissues in the 10 mg/kg treatment group. However, when the copper levels increased to 45 mg/kg and 135 mg/kg, the copper content in the liver was significantly higher than that in the other visceral tissues (P < 0.05). At 225 mg/kg dietary copper, there was a significant increase in the copper content of the foreleg muscle. There was no significant difference in copper content of the rib bones, tibia bones, and femur bone marrow copper accumulation between the 10 mg/kg copper and the 45 mg/kg copper fed pigs. In addition, there was no significant difference in the brain, blood, cerebellum, and skin copper content within all the treatment groups. Therefore, dietary copper levels increased with the increase in total copper accumulation in pigs. Hence, higher dietary copper supplementation increased liver, kidney, heart, fur, bones, bone marrow copper accumulation and total copper levels in fattening pigs.