Table 5.
The effect of graded levels of whey with addition of citric acid on intestinal and muscle PH, and femur bone analysis on fresh basis
| Parameters | T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intestinal pH | 8.15 ± 0.25a | 7.36 ± 0.13b | 7.68 ± 0.15b | 7.38 ± 0.17b | 6.66 ± 0.18c | ≤ 0.001 |
| Muscle pH | 6.88 ± 0.12 | 7.13 ± 0.09 | 7.04 ± 0.07 | 7.07 ± 0.07 | 7.12 ± 0.11 | 0.357 |
| Femur bone analysis (%) | ||||||
| Ash | 38.08 ± 1.81 | 38.91 ± 2.15 | 39.11 ± 0.78 | 37.83 ± 0.93 | 39.37 ± 0.45 | 0.916 |
| Ca | 3.12 ± 0.12c | 3.25 ± 0.22c | 4.32 ± 0.08b | 4.88 ± 0.19ab | 5.05 ± 0.28a | ≤ 0.001 |
| P | 2.90 ± 0.16b | 3.15 ± 0.25b | 3.82 ± 0.07a | 4.03 ± 0.13a | 4.20 ± 0.17a | ≤ 0.001 |
T1, basal diet with no additives; T2, basal diet supplemented with citric acid (10 g/kg) and no whey; T3, T2 + whey powder (7.5 g/kg); T4, T2 + whey powder(15 g/kg); T5, T2 + whey powder (22.5 g/kg)
a–cMeans within the same row carrying different superscripts are significantly different at (P ≤ 0.05)