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

Table.6 Effect of dietary calcium (Ca) level on middle toe bone parameters of broilers on d 21¹

Analyzed dietary Ca level, %	Toe ash percentage, %	Toe ash Ca, %	Toe ash P, %	Toe ash Ca: P ratio	Toe BMD, mg/cm²	Toe BMC, g
0.59	41.6	36.9^c	17.99	2.04	45^c	0.13
0.70	41.2	37.2^bc	18.14	2.06	51^bc	0.15
0.80	41.91	37.6^abc	18.22	2.10	55^ab	0.20
0.88	42.1	37.6^abc	18.51	2.07	56^a	0.18
0.98	41.9	37.8^ab	18.24	2.06	53^ab	0.18
1.09	42.3	37.9^a	18.07	2.08	46^c	0.15
1.18	41.2	38.1^a	17.99	2.09	46^c	0.17
SEM	0.215	0.530	0.324	0.053	4.5	0.046
P-value
Ca level	0.20	0.008	0.12	0.52	< 0.0001	0.18
Linear	–	< 0.0001	–	–	0.37	–
Quadratic	–	0.55	–	–	< 0.0001	–

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

ISSN: 2049-1891