Effect of different levels of calcium and phosphorus and their interaction on the performance of young broilers

A study was conducted to evaluate the interaction among 3 levels of Ca and 4 levels of nonphytate phosphorus (NPP) on broiler performance, bone ash, and whole-body fractional retention of Ca and P. Ross male broiler-chicks (n=420) were sorted by BW at d 1 posthatch and assigned to 5 cages/diet with 7 birds/cage. Twelve diets were arranged in a 3×4 factorial of 3 levels Ca (at 0.5, 0.7, or 0.9%) and 4 levels NPP (at 0.25, 0.31, 0.38, or 0.45%) with a high dose of phytase (1,150 U/kg) in all diets. On d 14, chickens were euthanized and the right tibia was collected from 3 birds/replicate; the rest of the animals were used to measure whole-body Ca and P retention. An interaction was observed between the level of Ca and NPP on feed intake (FI), tibia weight, and bone-ash content (P<0.05). Increasing the level of NPP from 0.25 to 0.38% increased FI (P<0.05) on chickens fed the high-Ca diet (0.9%), but not with Ca at 0.5 or 0.7%. Broilers achieved their greatest weight gain (WG) and bone formation with 0.7% Ca and 0.38% NPP. Increasing the dietary Ca decreased its fractional retention from 74% with dietary Ca at 0.5 to 46% with Ca at 0.9%. The increase in the levels of dietary P steadily increased the fractional retention of Ca from 53 to 61%, and increased the whole-body Ca content (g/kg BW). It can be concluded that a dietary level of 0.38% NPP/kg in diets containing a high dose of phytase (1,150 U/kg) and 0.7% Ca are adequate to ensure broiler performance and bone ash of broilers from d 0 to d 14 posthatch.