Table 3.

Effects of sex and dietary P level on serum Ca, P, and ALP of breeding pigeons during squab-rearing period.¹

D 7 post-hatch
	Sex			P supplemental level (%)						P-value
Item	Male	Female	SEM	0	0.2	0.4	0.8	SEM	Sex	P level			Sex × P
										Model	Linear	Quadratic
Ca (mmol/L)	1.895b	5.55a	0.45	3.298	3.650	4.153	3.791	0.62	0.00	0.805	0.987	0.683	0.701
P (mmol/L)	2.515b	3.658a	0.16	2.808	2.943	3.205	3.391	0.22	0.00	0.293	0.288	0.507	0.156
ALP (U/L)	291.3b	556.6a	37.7	387.0b	348.5b	551.8a	408.6b	51.2	0.00	0.05	0.721	0.435	0.029

D 14 post-hatch
	Sex			P supplemental level (%)						P-value
	Male	Female	SEM	0	0.2	0.4	0.8	SEM	Sex	P level			Sex × P
										Model	Linear	Quadratic
Ca (mmol/L)	1.786b	4.593a	0.223	2.497b	3.946a	3.218ab	3.097b	0.31	0.00	0.021	0.917	0.663	0.006
P (mmol/L)	2.206b	3.060a	0.186	1.531b	2.780a	2.916a	3.305a	0.26	0.004	0.001	0.003	0.003	0.425
ALP (U/L)	268.8b	504.6a	31.7	431.2	403.7	413.9	297.9	44.8	0.00	0.212	0.164	0.339	0.736

D 21 post-hatch
	Sex			P supplemental level (%)						P-value
	Male	Female	SEM	0	0.2	0.4	0.8	SEM	Sex	P level			Sex × P
										Model	Linear	Quadratic
Ca (mmol/L)	1.771b	2.975a	0.387	2.908	1.980	2.195	2.410	0.55	0.046	0.701	0.736	0.478	0.521
P (mmol/L)	2.367	3.206	0.291	3.090	2.295	2.683	3.079	0.41	0.063	0.512	0.671	0.416	0.856
ALP (U/L)	325.1	316.6	32.2	377.6	342.5	331.7	231.7	45.5	0.860	0.210	0.028	0.083	0.680

¹Each value represents the mean of 8 breeding pigeons, male half and female half, per treatment.

^a,bMeans within the same row lacking a common superscript differ (P ≤ 0.05).