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

Abstract

Background The current calcium (Ca) recommendation for broilers is primarily based on studies conducted more than 30 years ago with birds of markedly different productive potentials from those which exist today. And the response indicators in these studies are mainly growth performance and bone ash percentage. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary Ca level on growth performance, serum parameters, bone characteristics and Ca metabolism-related gene expressions, so as to estimate dietary Ca requirements of broilers fed a conventional corn-soybean meal diet from 1 to 21 days of age. Methods A total of 420 1-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers were randomly assigned to 1 of 7 treatments with 6 replicates (10 birds per cage) and fed the corn-soybean meal diets containing 0.60%, 0.70%, 0.80%, 0.90%, 1.00%, 1.10% or 1.20% Ca for 21 days. Each diet contained the constant non-phytate phosphorus content of about 0.39%. Results The average daily gain decreased linearly (P < 0.001) as dietary Ca level increased. The serum and tibia alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities, tibia bone mineral density (BMD), middle toe BMD, tibia ash percentage, tibia breaking strength, and tibia ALP protein expression level were affected (P < 0.05) by dietary Ca level, and showed significant quadratic responses (P < 0.02) to dietary Ca levels. The estimates of dietary Ca requirements were 0.80 to 1.00% based on the best fitted broken-line or quadratic models (P < 0.03) of the above serum and bone parameters, respectively. Conclusions The results from the present study indicate that the Ca requirements would be about 0.60% to obtain the best growth rate, and 1.00% to meet all of the Ca metabolisms and bone development of broilers fed a conventional corn-soybean meal diet from 1 to 21 days of age.

Effects of coated sodium butyrate on performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal health of laying hens

“…The CONTRAST statement was utilized for linear and quadratic trend analysis to assess the effects of the CSB supplementation dose on the different parameters. Furthermore, broken-line, asymptotic, and quadratic model regression was carried out using the nonlinear ( NLIN ) procedure of SAS, and the best-fitted model was chosen according to the coefficient of determination and P -value ( Bai et al, 2022 ). The results were displayed in the form of the means and standard error of means, where P < 0.05 indicates the statistical significance and 0.05 ≤ P < 0.1, the statistical trend.…”

Determination of the standardized ileal digestible calcium requirement of Ross broilers from hatch to day 14 post-hatch

“…In addition, the SBL assumes additional supplementation of the nutrient at concentrations above the break point or plateau has no negative impacts on growth performance or nutrient utilization. This may be the case for some nutrients, but high concentrations of total dietary Ca have been shown to reduce growth performance ( Amerah et al., 2014 ; Bai et al., 2022 ; Simco and Stephenson, 1961 ) and P and amino acid digestibility ( Amerah et al., 2014 ) of broilers, especially when dietary P is limiting. Therefore, use of the SBL may over-simplify the effect of dietary Ca on broiler performance, efficiency, and nutrient utilization.…”

“… Driver et al. (2005b) and Bai et al. (2022) estimated the requirement to maximize body weight gain (BWG) during the starter phase was 0.625% or 0.590% total Ca, respectively.…”

“…(2003) suggested 0.756% total Ca was required to maximize BWG from d 1 to 35 post-hatch. In 3 of the 4 studies, approximately 1.0% total Ca was required to support Ca metabolism and optimal skeletal development ( Bai et al., 2022 ; Driver et al., 2005b ; Rama Rao et al., 2003 ), indicating the Ca requirement to optimize tibia ash is greater than that needed to optimize growth and feed efficiency, but the exact total Ca requirement remains elusive.…”

Evaluation of the Nutritive Values of Carica Papaya Fruit peels as A Potential Ingredient in Livestock Nutrition

“…These results indicate that dairy cattle make efficient use of calcium and the results showed that both ripe and unripe peels are sufficient to meet the daily calcium needs of cattle. On the other hand, Bai et al (2022) and Poultry Hub (2022) reported 0.59% and 1% as the required calcium need for broiler chickens, hence other calcium sources have to be considered for poultry in addition to the peels of Carica papaya.…”