Influence of supranutritional vitamin E supplementation in the feed on swine growth performance and deposition in different tissues

Abstract

Abstract The effects of supranutritional vitamin E supplementation in the diet on the growth performance of pigs, the deposition of α‐tocopherol in different tissues and the activity of certain blood enzymes were investigated. Pigs receiving diets supplemented with 100 and 200 IU vitamin E kg −1 feed exhibited significant improvement in daily body gain and feed conversion efficiency in the early growth phase (P < 0.05). With advance in age. the growth curves of pigs fed the higher levels of vitamin E tended to become parallel to that of the control group (10 IU vitamin E kg −1 feed), suggesting that the advantage gained in body weight in the early growth period actually persisted in subsequent phases. The concentrations of α‐tocopherol in blood plasma and different tissues (heart, kidney, lung and liver) significantly increased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of dietary vitamin E. However, the activity of lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase in blood plasma was not influenced by the levels of vitamin E supplementation.