Meta-analysis of phosphorus utilisation by broilers receiving corn-soyabean meal diets: influence of dietary calcium and microbial phytase

Pollution relative to phosphorus excretion in poultry manure as well as the soaring prices of phosphate, a non-renewable resource, remain of major importance. Thus, a good understanding of bird response regarding dietary phosphorus (P) is a prerequisite to optimise the utilisation of this essential element in broiler diets. A database built from 15 experiments with 203 treatments was used to predict the response of 21-day-old broilers to dietary non-phytate P (NPP), taking into account the main factors of variation, calcium (Ca) and microbial phytase derived from Aspergillus niger, in terms of average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), gain to feed (G:F) and tibia ash concentration. All criteria evolve linearly (P < 0.001) and quadratically (P < 0.001) with dietary NPP concentration. Dietary Ca affected the intercept and linear component for ADG (P < 0.01), G:F (P < 0.05) and tibia ash concentration (P < 0.001), whereas for ADF1, it affected only the intercept (P < 0.01). Microbial phytase addition impacted on the intercept, the linear and the quadratic coefficient for ADF1 (P < 0.01), ADG (P < 0.001) and G:F (P < 0.05), and on the intercept and the linear component (P < 0.001) for tibia ash concentration. An evaluation of these models was then performed on a database built from 28 experiments and 255 treatments that were not used to perform the models. Results showed that ADFI, ADG and Tibia ash concentration were predicted fairly well (slope and intercept did not deviate from 0 to 1, respectively), whereas this was not the case for G:F. The increase in dietary Ca concentration aggravated P deficiency for all criteria while phytase addition had a positive effect. The more P deficiency was marked, the more the bird response to ADFI, ADG, G:F and tibia ash concentration was exacerbated. It must also be considered that even if the decrease in dietary Ca may improve P utilisation, it could in turn become limiting for bone mineralisation. In conclusion, this meta-analysis provides ways to reduce dietary P in broiler diets without impairing performance, taking into account dietary Ca and microbial phytase.