The effect of citric acid on the calcium and phosphorus requirements of chicks fed corn-soybean meal diets. Poult. Sci

ABSTRACT Data previously reported from our labora-tory indicated that supplementation of a corn-soybean meal diet with citric acid improves P utilization in chicks. The four experiments reported herein were conducted to further evaluate the effects of citric acid on Ca and P utilization for chicks fed a corn-soybean meal diet. Diets in all experiments were fed to chicks from 8 to 21 or 22 d of age. The first experiment evaluated the effect of 6% citric acid on the Ca requirement of chicks. A Ca-deficient basal diet [23 % CP, 0.54 % Ca, 0.45 % available P (AP)] containing 0 to 0.7 % supplemental Ca in 0.1 % increments was fed with or without 6 % citric acid. The results indi-cated that citric acid did not significantly affect the Ca requirement. A second experiment evaluated differen