With the objective to evaluate levels of available phosphorus (aP) in diets for pigs selected for meat deposition by maintaining the calcium and available phosphorus ratio, it was used 50 commercial hybrid female pigs with initial weight of 30.32 ± 0.29 kg, distributed in a complete randomized experimental design, with five treatments, five replicates, and two animals per experimental unit. Treatments were composed of a corn-soybean meal basal diet and four diets obtained by supplementation of basal diet with dicalcium phosphate, resulting in diets with 0.144; 0.224; 0.304; 0.384 and 0.464% of aP. Calcium levels were adjusted by varying the quantities of limestone in the diets. There was no effect of aP on both daily feed intake and feed conversion. Levels of aP affected daily weight gain which increased quadratically up to the estimated level of 0.372%. There was no effect of aP on quantity of phosphorus in the bones. The quantity of calcium in the bones and percentage of ash in the bones were influenced in an increasing linear way by the aP in the rations. The best result of weight gain of swine females, from 30 to 60 kg, genetically selected for meat deposition, is provided by the level of available phosphorus of 0.372%, which corresponds to a relationship with calcium of 2.06:1 and to a daily intake of 8.20 g of available phosphorus.
growth phase; phosphorus; performance; requirement
