SUMMARY

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of phosphate sources and available phosphorus levels present in the diet of male broilers had on performance and bone mineralization. We used 2,400 one-day old chicks that were distributed in a completely randomized design in a 4x4 factorial arrangement, and fed diets containing four types of phosphates: 1) dicalcium phosphate with granules smaller than 1 mm (DP); 2) monocalcium phosphate with up to 10% of granules between 1 and 2 mm (MP 10%); 3) monocalcium phosphate with 30 to 40 % of granules between 1 and 2 mm (MP 30-40%); and, 4) granulated monocalcium phosphate with granules larger than 2 mm (GMP) and four levels (0.30; 0.36; 0.42 and 0.48%) of available phosphorus, totaling 16 treatments with five replicates of 30 birds each. The available phosphorus requirements for each type of phosphates were estimated by polynomial regression models. Considering the biological responses of the variables, performance and bone mineralization, it could be concluded that 0.48 % of available phosphorus is required for male broilers aged between 1 and 28 days, independent of the source