Dietary calcium requirements of broilers fed a conventional corn-soybean meal diet from 1 to 21 days of age

Table.5 Effect of dietary calcium (Ca) level on tibia bone parameters of broilers on d 21¹

Analyzed dietary Ca level, %	Tibia ash percentage, %	Tibia ash Ca content, %	Tibia ash P, %	Tibia ash Ca: P ratio	Tibia BMD, mg/cm²	Tibia BMC, g	Tibia breaking strength, N
0.59	49.3^bc	35.1	17.8	1.96	136^bc	0.88^b	98^c
0.70	48.7^c	35.3	17.9	1.97	133^c	0.82^b	109^bc
0.80	50.2^ab	35.6	17.9	1.98	146^b	0.98^ab	129^ab
0.88	50.9^a	35.8	18.0	1.99	158^a	1.00^ab	140^a
0.98	50.6^ab	35.3	17.9	1.97	145^b	1.02^ab	134^ab
1.09	50.5^ab	35.6	17.9	1.99	141^bc	1.10^a	131^ab
1.18	49.4^abc	35.6	17.6	2.03	142^bc	0.95^b	132^ab
SEM	1.17	0.79	0.34	0.052	8.0	0.105	19.7
P-value
Ca level	0.004	0.73	0.40	0.45	0.0003	0.027	0.008
Linear	0.07	–	–	–	0.11	0.012	0.001
Quadratic	0.003	–	–	–	0.0006	0.052	0.012

¹Data represented the means of 6 replicates (n = 6)
²Abbreviations: BMC Bone mineral content, BMD bone mineral density
^a-cMeans within a column with unlike superscript letters were significantly different (P < 0.05)

ISSN: 2049-1891