Efficacy of inorganic selenium supplementation to sow diets on resulting carry-over to their progeny.

An experiment was conducted with 28 third-lit ter sows to evaluate the efficacy of inorganic Se supplementat ion to the dam's diet on placental and mammary Se transfer and its subsequent carry-over to the progeny after weaning. Sows were fed a corn-soybean meal diet without or with supplemental inorganic Se at either .1 or .5 ppm levels during the entire reproductive cycle. Sows were bled periodically with three animals slaughtered per group at weaning (28-days) and samples of kidney and hepatic tissue obtained. Progeny from each sow group were sacrificed at parturit ion, 2and 4-weeks postpar tum with serum, kidney, longissimus muscle and hepatic tissues collected. Pigs were sacrificed from each sow group and tissues collected at periodic intervals following weaning to 100 kg to evaluate the Se carry-over from the dam. Sow serum, milk and tissue Se levels increased quadratically as the dietary Se level increased with near-maximum concentration levels at approximately the .1 ppm supplemental level. Sow hair analyses reflected dietary levels of the mineral with the greatest Se concentration resulting from those dams fed the higher dietary level of the nutrient. Pregnant animals had lower hair Se concentrations than non-pregnant sows within each t reatment group. Tissue and serum Se concentrations quadratically increased in the neonatal, 2and