Prediction of Total Skeleton Mineralization from Individual Bone Data

METABOLISM of skeletal minerals in the chicken has been studied by determining ash percentage, specific mineral content and distribution of administered isotopes in individual bones. In most studies, the tibia has been used as the sample bone for analysis (Baird and MacMillan, 1942; Migicovsky and Emslie, 1950; Itoh and Hatano, 1964). The humerous and sternum have been used by Martin and Patrick (1962), although some investigations for a biological vitamin D assay have been developed using toe bones (Baird and MacMillan, 1942; Evans and Carver, 1944; Campbell et al., 1945) or beak (Wei et al., 1954). With the excep- tion of the reports by Taylor and Moore (1954 Taylor and Moore (1956); Taylor et al, (1960); and Taylor and Morris (1964), very few studies have been conducted on the metabolism of the total skeleton of the laying hen, and little has been reported concerning the differences in the metabolism of individual bones. Itoh…