Effect of Dietary Levels of Calcium and Non-Phytate Phosphorus on Performance of Breeder Chicks

The effect of dietary concentrations of calcium (Ca) and non-phytate phosphorus (NPP) on day-old chicks (432) was studied by distributing them randomly into 9 treatments, 8 replicates of 6 chicks in each. A basal diet was formulated to contain 2600kcal/kg ME, 20% CP, 1.0% lysine and 0.4% methionine. Subsequently, nine test diets were formulated to contain 3 different concentrations of Ca (0.8, 0.9 and 1.0%) and NPP (0.4, 0.45 and 0.5%) each in factorial manner. The results revealed no effect of dietary interaction between Ca and NPP on any of the parameters studied except serum protein concentrations. However, dressed weight, tibia length, serum Ca and P concentrations and P content in bone ash were significantly influenced (P<0.05) by enhancing the Ca and NPP contents of the diet from 0.8 to 0.9% and 0.4 to 0.45%, respectively. Though feed consumption was reduced by increasing the dietary NPP level from 0.45 to 0.5%, feed conversion ratio was not affected. It was concluded that breeder chicks require 0.9% Ca and 0.45% NPP for realizing optimum performance during 0 to 6 weeks of age.