Table 5.
Bone quality of hens fed diets containing 1,681, 8,348, 18,348, 35,014 or 68,348 IU of D3/kg of diet.
| Dietary cholecalciferol | Keel score1 | Tibia mineral density | Tibia mineral content | Tibia breaking strength | Fat-free tibia ash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (IU of D3/kg of diet) | (g/cm2) | (g) | (kg) | (%) | |
| 1,681 (control) | 0.43 | 0.226 | 1.41b | 17.99 | 60.97b |
| 8,348 | 0.32 | 0.236 | 1.46b | 18.55 | 61.57a |
| 18,348 | 0.40 | 0.233 | 1.46b | 19.21 | 61.49a |
| 35,014 | 0.27 | 0.235 | 1.46a,b | 18.49 | 61.74a |
| 68,348 | 0.37 | 0.241 | 1.55a | 19.22 | 61.58a |
| Pooled SEM | 0.093 | 0.0042 | 0.030 | 0.361 | 0.161 |
| P-value (ANOVA) | 0.74 | 0.13 | ≤ 0.05 | 0.09 | ≤ 0.05 |
| Quadratic | – | – | ≤ 0.05 | – | 0.20 |
| Linear | – | – | ≤ 0.01 | – | 0.17 |
1
Score 0: a bone with one fracture, usually toward the tip of keel; Score 1: a bone with between 2 and 3 fractures or callus formation. Score 2: a bone with multiple fractures or callus formation plus slight deformation at the fracture sites. Score 3: a bone with multiple fractures or callus formation and severe deformations of the ventral edge.
a–b
Least square means without a common superscript differ (P ≤ 0.05).