The Availability of Phytic Acid Phosphorus for Chicks

PUBLISHED reports are not in complete agreement concerning the availability of the phosphorus in plant materials, commonly known as phytin phosphorus. Phosphorus extracted from various plant materials was poorly available for chicks and rats in studies reported by Lowe et al. (1939), Krieger et al. (1940, 1941), Spitzer et al. (1948), Gillis et al. (1949, 1957) and Matterson et al. (1946). However, the last group stated that one should not infer from the poor availability of the extracted plant phosphate that phosphorus of natural plant material is necessarily unavailable. The reports of Heuser et al. (1943) and McGinnis et al. (1944) suggested limited availability of phosphorus from plant sources. Gillis et al. (1949) indicated that phosphorus present in natural plant ingredients was a slightly more effective source of phosphorus than that extracted as calcium phytate. Singsen et al. (1947) reported that phosphorus in a mixture of cereal grains was relatively…