One potential way for producers to save on feed costs is to introduce phytase into the pigs diets. Phytase binds up phosphorus making it poorly available so it doesn’t negatively impact land, it also renders calcium, iron, zinc, manganese and copper poorly available. Tests have shown that 0.1 % reduction in calcium and phosphorus have no impact on carcass traits or meat quality. In lactating sows, no work has been done concerning the response due to phytase supplementation with respect to: 1) digestibility of trace minerals, 2) response of milk production and quality, and 3) piglet performance. These things are important to understand before farmers begin introducing phytase into diets. To test phytase use on sows a group of 36 sows were assigned one of four mineral phytase treatments when they were in farrowing crates. The four treatments were:1) phytase and a trace mineral premix, 2) no phytase and a trace mineral premix, 3) only phytase and no trace mineral premix, and 4) neither phytase or a trace mineral premix. Farrowing data was recorded as well as blood, feces and milk samples were taken for analysis. Also sow feed and water intake was recorded along with weaning data. Results showed that in the short term sows did not need typical levels of calcium and phosphorus and any trace mineral supplementation they receive. No production parameters were found to be impacted by the treatments. Phytase supplementation did not improve digestibility of phosphorus, calcium or the trace
minerals, as it has in other studies. It is unclear at this point why that was the case but there is at least one significant confounding factor, being dry matter intake. For some reason, the sows consuming treatments that received reduced calcium and phosphorus and no trace mineral supplementation tended to consume more feed than those that received normal mineral
supplementation. To learn why this is more studies will need to be done on a larger group of sows.