Abstract

ALCANTAR-VAZQUEZ, Wendy et al. Optimum biological levels of available phosphorus in 0 to 18-weeks old-white bovans pullets. Agrociencia [online]. 2007, vol.41, n.6, pp.609-617. ISSN 2521-9766.

Phosphorus has great importance during the growth of poultry, and a low level in diet might affect their physical condition and egg production. An experiment with 500 White Bovans line pullets was carried out from 1 day to 18 weeks of life in order to evaluate the effect of available phosphorus during the stages of initiation (0 to 6 weeks), growth (7 to 12), and development (13 to 18 weeks). P level did not affect (p>0.05), live weight, break resistance, and phosphorus percentage in tibia. There were differences (p≤0.05) in feed intake and percentage of phosphorus in feces; the period was significant (p≤0.01) for feed intake and live weight. The optimum biological phosphorus levels for minimum feed intake and lower phosphorus excretion in feces were 0.32% at initiation; 0.34% and 0.25% at growth; 0.20 and 0.25% at the development stage. It is concluded that the percentage of available P may be inferior to the one suggested by the NRC (1994) during the three stages, without affecting performance and body condition of the poultry.

Keywords : Available phosphorus; bone mineralization; growing pullets.