Effect of feeding different levels of dietary phosphorus on growth performance and blood biochemicals of broiler chicks

Day old broiler chicks (n=240) were randomly divided into 24 groups of 10 each. Eight test diets were formulated with 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, 0.50 and 0.55% available phosphorus containing 21.6% crude protein, 2844 kcal ME/kg. Each diet was of fered at random to triplicate groups of 10 broiler chicks each reared group-wise in battery cages under uniform management from 0–6 wks of age. Results indicated that the body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio remained insignificant by feeding different levels of dietary phosphorus. The serum alkaline phosphatase activity decreased (P<0.05) with an increase in dietary phosphorus levels, whereas the serum P concentration increased (P<O.05) as the level of phosphorus was increased in the diet. The serum calcium contents remained non-significant. Considering the overall performance, the supplementation of dicalciumphosphate in all-vegetable diet to provide 0.35% available phosphorus appears to be adequate for optimum performance of broilers reared under tropical environment.