The experiment aimed to study the effects of three levels (5; 10; and 15%) of L-Glutamic Acid (L-Glu) and four levels of vitamin D3 (VD) on the chemical composition of bones of broiler chicks, Hubbard. The purified diets used contained all essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals at adequate levels and were supplemented with of L-Glu and with 0, 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 IU of vitamin D3. The experimental design was a factorial 3 x 4 with four replicates with seven chicks each. The highest content of femur ash (40.6%) and tibiotarsus ash (40.73%) was obtained with, respectively, 15% of L-Glu and 8,503 IU of VD and 15% of L-Glu and 15,000 IU of VD. There was no significant effect on calcium (37.01%) and phosphorus (20.55%) contents of tibiotarsus ash. The better Ca:P relationship on tibiotarsus was equal 1.80. The better Ca:P relationship of the femur (1.95) was obtained with 5% of L-Glu and 15,000 IU of VD. There was a reduction on magnesium contents of the femur with L-Glu and VD supplementation. The highest tibiotarsus magnesium content (1.2%) was obtained with 5% of L-Glu and 5,000 IU of VD. Although some differences were observed in the mineral composition of bones, the mineral contents were in physiological range and were not related with leg weakness incidence observed.
L-Glutamic acid; vitamin D3; broiler chicks; bone ash; ash minerals
