Table 4. Effects of dietary vitamin D3 concentration on tibia development in 21-day-old broilers (experiment 2)1)
Vitamin D3 (IU/kg) | Bone weight (g/bone) | Bone length (cm/bone) | Mineral percentage (%) | Mineral weight (g/bone) |
Ash | Ca | P | Ash | Ca | P |
0 | 0.99d | 5.15c | 38.3b | 13.0b | 6.92b | 0.37d | 0.13d | 0.07c |
125 | 1.41c | 5.98b | 48.3a | 17.8a | 8.92a | 0.67c | 0.25c | 0.13b |
250 | 1.63bc | 6.1ab | 49.5a | 18.4a | 9.56a | 0.80b | 0.30b | 0.16a |
500 | 1.73ab | 6.15ab | 49.5a | 17.8a | 9.50a | 0.85ab | 0.31b | 0.16a |
1,000 | 1.89a | 6.35a | 49.3a | 18.1a | 9.37a | 0.93a | 0.34a | 0.18a |
2,000 | 1.89a | 6.30ab | 48.9a | 17.9a | 9.19a | 0.92a | 0.34a | 0.17a |
SEM | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.18 | 0.04 | 0.01 | 0.01 |
p-value | | | | | | | | |
Linear | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 |
Quadratic | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 | < 0.05 |
Each value represents the mean of five repetitions (two broilers per repetition) (n = 5).
Values with different superscripts are significantly different (p < 0.05).
Ca, calcium; P, phosphorus.