A Preliminary Study on Selenium Concentrations in Feces of Fattening Pigs Fed Selenium-Supplemented Diet

Selenium (Se), a trace mineral, plays a crucial role together with vitamin E in antioxidant mechanism, and is important for normal animal growth. In pigs, it has been a common practice to supplement Se in the diet of fattening pigs. However, it is interesting to concern whether the current Se supplementation is in excess of dietary needs, which would simply influence the contamination of Se in the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the concentrations of selenium in the feces of 3 fattening pigs that were fed a control diet and a Se-supplemented diet. During 17 days of the experiment period, the three pigs were fed the control diet for 5 days, the Se-supplemented (200 ppm) diet for 7 days, and the control diet for the last 5 days, respectively. Feed intake was recorded daily, and was analyzed for dry matter intake. Fecal samples were collected per rectum daily, and were analyzed for Se concentrations by using spectrofluorometric method. Our results revealed that dry matter intake per day of all pigs was not altered during the experimental period, indicating that changing the diet in a short period did not influence the feed intake of the pigs. The Se concentrations in the fecal samples of all pigs were not changed during the experimental period (Figure 1), which might imply that Se-supplementation at the dose of 200 ppm did not result in increased excretion of Se in the feces.

Figure 1

Selenium concentrations in the fecal samples of the three fattening pigs during the 17 days of experiment.

In conclusion, supplementation of Se at the recommendation dose (200 ppm) did not alter the feed intake of pigs as well as did not increase excretion of Se via gastrointestinal tract.