Evaluation of a Dicalcium Phosphate Supplement as a Source of Phosphorus for Chicks

IN RECENT years, much attention has been focused upon the comparative availability of various phosphorus supplements for use in poultry rations. Several reports concerning the utilization of these supplements have been published (Bird et al., 1945; Gillis, Norris and Heuser, 1948, 1949; Siebirth et al. 1952; Miller and Joukovsky, 1953; and Grau and Zweigert, 1953). A large portion of this work has been of a qualitative nature and precise comparisons of different supplements have only recently been reported on chicks by Gillis, Norris and Heuser (1954) and on poults by Wilcox et al. (1954). A comparison of the biological availability of the products used by Gillis et al. (1948) with the solubility in acid indicated no correlation between solubility and nutritional performance in animals. However, these workers studied the comparative availability of a number of common phosphorus supplements and compounds by adding each singly to a basal diet very low …