Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
Some sources of water for livestock have been found to contain relatively high levels of nitrate. Although levels of nitrate above 300 ppm of nitrate nitrogen are known to exist, they occur infrequently. The experiments reported herein were conducted to determine the effects of various levels of nitrate or nitrite in drinking water on growing-finishing pigs, and gilts from weaning through gestation and lactation. Results obtained from the feeding of sodium nitrate at levels as high as 300 ppm of nitrate nitrogen in the drinking water of growing-finishing swine have been reported previously (Animal Science Mimeo Series 63-6). The level of nitrate in the drinking water was apparently without effect on weight gains and general thriftiness