Too Much of a Good Thing: Rethinking Feed Formulation and Feeding Practices for Zinc in Swine Diets to Achieve One Health and Environmental Sustainability

Simple Summary Zinc (Zn) is an essential nutrient required by all organisms, but excess use may result in environmental pollution and contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Although Zn is involved in numerous physiological functions in pigs, accurate determination of dietary requirements has been difficult because homeostasis is tightly regulated, and biomarkers indicative of Zn adequacy are lacking. Dietary Zn concentrations are determined by Zn in common feed ingredients, amount of supplemental Zn added from premixes, use of pharmacological doses of Zn to control post-weaning diarrhea and promote growth, and use of elevated dietary Zn in late gestation to reduce pre-weaning piglet mortality. As a result, Zn concentrations of swine diets are highly variable within countries and across the globe. Dietary Zn regulations in the E.U. were implemented to reduce the negative environmental impacts associated with Zn accumulation in agricultural soils resulting from long-term swine manure application as a consequence of feeding pharmacological Zn concentrations to weaned pigs. However, several alternative feeding strategies could allow the strategic use of elevated Zn concentrations to achieve productivity advantages, while also substantially reducing Zn excretion in manure, which are both important contributors toward improving environmental sustainability of global pork production systems. The objectives of this review were to summarize current knowledge of Zn in swine nutrition, environmental concerns, potential contribution to antimicrobial resistance, and explore the use of alternative feeding strategies to reduce Zn excretion in manure while capturing improvements in productivity. Zinc is a required nutrient for pigs but is commonly supplemented at concentrations that greatly exceed estimated requirements. Feeding pharmacological concentrations of Zn from ZnO to pigs for 1 to 2 weeks post-weaning reduces post-weaning diarrhea and improves growth performance. Feeding elevated dietary levels of Zn to sows during the last 30 days of gestation can reduce the incidence of low-birth-weight pigs and pre-weaning mortality. Most of the dietary Zn consumed by pigs is not retained in the body and is subsequently excreted in manure, which led several countries to impose regulations restricting dietary Zn concentrations to reduce environmental impacts. Although restricting Zn supplementation in swine diets is a reasonable approach for reducing environmental pollution, it does not allow capturing health and productivity benefits from strategic use of elevated dietary Zn concentrations. Therefore, we propose feeding strategies that allow strategic use of high dietary concentrations of Zn while also reducing Zn excretion in manure compared with current feeding practices.

Automated summary

Zinc is a required nutrient for pigs but is commonly supplemented at concentrations that greatly exceed estimated requirements. Feeding pharmacological concentrations of Zn from ZnO to pigs for 1 to 2 weeks post-weaning reduces post-weaning diarrhea and improves growth performance. Feeding elevated dietary levels of Zn to sows during the last 30 days of gestation can reduce the incidence of low-birth-weight pigs and pre-weaning mortality. Most of the dietary Zn consumed by pigs is not retained in the body and is subsequently excreted in manure, which led several countries to impose regulations restricting dietary Zn concentrations to reduce environmental impacts. Although restricting Zn supplementation in swine diets is a reasonable approach for reducing environmental pollution, it does not allow capturing health and productivity benefits from strategic use of elevated dietary Zn concentrations. Therefore, we propose feeding strategies that allow strategic use of high dietary concentrations of Zn while also reducing Zn excretion in manure compared with current feeding practices.