Dietary Requirement of True Digestible Phosphorus and Total Calcium for Growing Pigs

Sixty healthy growing pigs ($Duroc{\times}Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$ with an average BW of 21.4 kg) were used to determine the true digestible phosphorus (TDP) requirement of growing pigs on the basis of growth performance and serum biochemical indices. Pigs were assigned randomly to one of five dietary treatments (12 pigs/diet), representing five levels of TDP (0.16%, 0.20%, 0.23%, 0.26% and 0.39%). There were three replications per treatment, with four pigs (2 barrows and 2 gilts) in each replication (2 pigs/pen) A randomized-block design was used, with pen as the experimental unit. Experimental diets were formulated to provide the 5 TDP levels with a total calcium (Ca) to TDP ratio of 2:1, and offered to pigs at 5% BW for 28 d. The total Ca contents of the five diets were 0.33, 0.38, 0.45, 0.51 and 0.79%, respectively. During the 28-d experimental period, the ADG of pigs was affected by dietary TDP levels as described by Equation 1: y = $-809,532x^4+788,079x^3-276,250x^2+42,114x-1$,759; ($R^2$ = 0.99; p<0.01; y = ADG, g/d; x = dietary TDP, %). The feed:gain ratio for pigs was affected by dietary TDP levels as described by Equation 2: y = $3,651.1x^4-3,480.4x^3+1,183.8x^2-172.5x+10.9$ ($R^2$ = 0.99; p<0.01; y = feed:gain ratio; x = dietary TDP, %). Total P concentrations in serum were affected by dietary TDP levels as described by Equation 3: y = $-3,311.7x^4+3,342.7x^3-1,224.6x^2+195.6x-8.7$ ($R^2$ = 0.99; p<0.01; y = total serum P concentration and x = dietary TDP, %). The highest ADG (782 g/d), the lowest feed:gain ratio (1.07), and the highest total serum P concentration (3.1 mmol/L) were obtained when dietary TDP level was 0.34%. Collectively, these results indicate that the optimal TDP requirement of growing pigs is 0.34% of the diet (e.g., 5.1 g/day for a 30-kg pig that consumed 1.5 kg feed daily) at a total Ca to TDP ratio of 2:1.