Effect of Cottonseed Meal Supplemented with Phytase and Vitamin D3 on Ileal Phosphorus Digestibility in Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Low in Calcium and Phosphorus

Abstract

A total of 125 day-old Arbor Acre broiler chickens were fed broiler starter till day 20. On day 21, the chicks were weighed and allotted to 5 treatments with 5replicates of 5 birds each in a randomized complete block design. The treatments comprised a positive control (PC, T₁) without cottonseed meal (CSM) and four CSM-based semi-purified diets, negative control (NC, T₂), NC+vitamin D3-10,000 IU/Kg (T₃), NC+phytase (T₄) and NC+phytase+vitamin D3 (T₅).Titanium dioxide(TiO2) (5 g/Kg) was included as marker. On day 28, the birds were killed and digesta from the 2/3rd of the ileum collected. Digestible P was significantly (p<0.05) improved for birds on T₅ when compared with the other four diets. Digestible P in T₄ did not differ (p>0.05) from the birds on T₁.Ileal digestible phosphorus (IPD) significantly (p<0.05) reduced with a corresponding increase in the percentage apparent phosphorus digestibility(APD) in T₃, while _T4 and T₅ did not differ from T₁ in the two parameters. It can be concluded that phytase and vitamin D3 supplementation on cottonseed meal improved digestible P in broiler chickens.