EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT SOURCES OF PHOSPHORUS ON PERFORMANCE AND BLOOD CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

This research was conducted to investigate the utilization of rock phosphate as an alternative phosphorus source in broiler diet. Rock phosphate is known to contain high amount of calcium and phosphorus, but its utilization has been limited due to its fluorine contents. A total of 250 Sayed broiler chicks were purchased at day old and brooded. After brooding, 210 very active and health chicks were allotted at random to 3 dietary treatments, each with 5 replicate pens such that 14 birds were assigned to each replicate and a total of 70 birds made up a treatment. The result showed that there were no significant (P >0.05) variations among all the parameters determined. Different sources of phosphorus did not show any significant difference (P>0.05) on performance of broiler at both starter (28 days of age) and finisher (56 days of age) among the dietary treatment groups for all parameters evaluated. Also, there were no significant (P >0.05) variations among all the blood parameters determined. Mean values of calcium obtained from blood serum of broiler finisher chickens in this study ranged between 2.38 mmol/l and 2.44 mmol/l (4.76 – 4.88 mEq/l or 9.52 – 9.76 mg/dl)