The Calcium Requirement of Breeder Turkeys

TITUS et al. (1937) studied the effect of the calcium and phosphorus content in the diet of chickens on egg production and hatchability. These workers reported that a high level of calcium (4.05 to 5.40 percent) adversely affected the hatchability of eggs and that the effect was greater when the level of phosphorus in the ration was 0.9 percent than when the diet contained 1.2 percent phosphorus. More recent work with laying chickens reported by Titus (1963) included calcium levels ranging from 1 to 6 percent with phosphorus levels varying from 0.4 to 0.8 percent. These experiments indicated that the best reproductive performance was obtained when the diet contained the highest level of calcium. Phosphorus level appeared to be relatively unimportant so long as it was not too low, with the optimum phosphorus level being approximately 0.75 percent. Gutowska and Parkhurst (1942) reported that an excess of calcium (3.95 percent) …