More effective and environment-friendly organic trace minerals have great potential to replace the inorganic elements in the diets of livestock. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary replacement of 100% inorganic trace minerals (ITMs) with 30–60% organic trace minerals (OTMs) on the performance, meat quality, antioxidant capacity, nutrient digestibility, and fecal mineral excretion and to assess whether low-dose OTMs could replace whole ITMs in growing-finishing pigs' diets.
A total of 72 growing-finishing pigs (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) with an initial average body weight of 74.25 ± 0.41 kg were selected and divided into four groups with six replicates per group and three pigs per replicate. The pigs were fed either a corn-soybean meal basal diet containing commercial levels of 100% ITMs or a basal diet with 30, 45, or 60% amino acid-chelated trace minerals instead of 100% ITMs, respectively. The trial ended when the pigs' weight reached ~110 kg.
The results showed that replacing 100% ITMs with 30–60% OTMs had no adverse effect on average daily gain, average daily feed intake, feed/gain, carcass traits, or meat quality (
In conclusion, dietary supplementation with 30–60% OTMs has the potential to replace 100% ITMs for improving antioxidant capacity and nutrient digestibility and for reducing fecal mineral excretion without compromising the performance of growing-finishing pigs.