Optimal dietary copper requirements and relative bioavailability for weanling pigs fed either copper proteinate or tribasic copper chloride

Table 4 Frequency of diarrhea¹ (%) of weanling pigs fed diets with different amount and source of copper

Copper source²	Copper level, mg/kg								Pooled SEM	P-value
Copper source²	0	5	10	20	40	80	160	200	Pooled SEM	Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
TBCC	43.6^a	44.0^a	43.4^a	41.6^a	38.4^ab	35.8^b	36.0^b	35.2^b	2.02	0.035	0.153	0.021
CuPro	43.6^a	43.0^a	44.0^a	40.0^b	39.8^b	32.8^c,*	35.2^c	–	2.24	0.015	0.037	0.168

^a-c Means within a row without a common superscript letter are different (P < 0.05)
^* different from the corresponding TBCC group at the same supplemented copper level, P < 0.05
¹ Diarrhea score = 5, watery diarrhea, 4, severe diarrhea, 3, mild diarrhea, 2, moist feces, and 1, normal feces. Frequency of diarrhea was calculated by adding all days for a pig with a score of 3 or greater. Frequency = numbers of pigs with diarrhea / (numbers of pigs × the number of days assessing diarrhea scores) × 100%, the number of days assessing diarrhea scores = 9
²TBCC tribasic copper chloride, CuPro copper proteinate

ISSN: 2049-1891