Cierra Roubicek

She/her

Education: Bachelor of Science in animal sciences and industry

Currently pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University

McNair Project: Effects of Iron Injection Timing on Nursery Pig Performance and Blood Criteria (2018)

Mentor: Cassandra Jones, Ph.D.

The objective of this study is to determine the iron injection timing effect on nursery pig growth performance and blood criteria. There were 6 different treatments. A control group receiving no iron and then treatment pigs that received 200 mg of GleptoForte on d2, d4, d6, d8, or d10. At weaning there was an increasing (P < 0.05) quadratic effect showing that the d4 and d6 pigs had higher weights than the other iron injected pigs. Average daily gain (ADG) for d 0 to d 42 improved (P= 0.001) regardless of injection day compared to those not receiving iron. F/G or the feed to gain ratio has only a decreasing (P=0.014) proving that there are no significant differences in feed efficiencies between the control pigs and the pigs receiving iron. At the end of the trial (d 42) their body weights improved (P=0.001) for the treatment pigs compared to the control pigs. Similarly, to the weaning body weights, the d4 and d6 iron injected pigs have the highest body weights from the all other treatments by d 42. Although there is a significant effect from treatment day for growth performance this is not seen for the hematological criteria. By d14 in the nursery the criteria’s have leveled out between all of the treated pigs. In summary, the combination of serum Fe and TIBC are good indicators of iron availability in nursery pigs. This research suggests pork producers should inject pigs with 200 mg GleptoForte on d 4 to 6 after birth for maximum growth performance during the suckling and nursery periods.