| The intensification of swine farming in recent year has resulted in excessive manure applications in some areas affecting both the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The source reduction of manure nutrients by using zeolite (clinoptilolite) as a feed additive in the ration of hogs is envisaged as one of the possible solutions to reduce the excessive applications of manure nutrients in land. In this context, an experimental feed trial was performed to test the effect on the manure physico-chemical properties and the growth performance of hogs of supplementing grower hog rations with a 4% zeolite (90%+ clinoptilolite).The first experiment consisted in feeding each ration to three hogs and collecting their manure to analyze the physico-chemical characteristics. Also, 2% and 4% zeolite was added to fresh manure, to measure its viscosity. The zeolite rations did increase the total solids (TS) content of the manure. Rations R3 and R4 produced manures which flowed better and emitted less odours after aging for 67 days, as compared to the control ration R1. Ration R2 produced less odours than the control ration R1, although the results were not significantly different (P>0.05). Thus, supplementing hog rations with zeolite can have some positive impact on the physico-chemical properties of the manure.The second experiment consisted in testing the effect on hog performance of adding 4% zeolite (90%+ clinoptilolite) to their ration, while also lowering the ration crude protein and energy content. A batch of 192 hogs were split into two groups, one housed in a room and fed the control ration R1, and the second in another identical room and fed two of the zeolite rations, namely rations R2 and R3. The experiment was repeated while changing the treatment assignment per room, and using rations R3 and R4. Although the zeolite and all of its crude protein (CP) and energy levels had no significant impact on hog performance, some differences were observed with ration R3 during the 12 week growth period. This indicates that more research is needed to adjust the ration with hog growth stage. The heavy metal content of the carcasses was not significantly affected (P>0.05) by zeolite supplementation.The zeolite ration tested, namely R2, R3 and R4, contained 4% zeolite (90%+ clinoptilolite) and either 100, 90 or 90% crude protein (CP) and 100, 90 or 85% energy, respectively. These rations were tested against a control ration, R1, with no zeolite and 100% CP and energy. |
