A total of 520 1-d old male broiler chicks (Cobb) was fed a corn-soy-fat-free rice meal diet to evaluate the effect of phytase suplementation on performance and nutrient digestibility. The experiment was analyzed as a completely randomized experimental design with five treatments, eight replications of 13 broilers per replication. The percentage composition of the experimental diets were: positive control (PC) with 3000 kcalME/kg; 21.4% CP; 0.42% Pd and 0.96% Ca and negative control (NC) with 2940 kcalME/kg; 21.2% CP; 0.27% Pd and 0.90% Ca. Three levels of supplementation of Fitase5000 Ouro Fino to NC diets: 500, 750 and 1,000 phytase units/kg of diet (ftu/kg) and their effects on uniformity, feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion, digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, Ca, P and energy digestible (DE), %DM and % as fed, and the concentration of Ca and P and bone resistance in tight of broilers at 20 days of age. The P digestibility of the diets with lower nutritional levels was inferior to the PC diets. The phytase supplementation improved P and DE digestibility, since the coefficients improved with the addition of 1,000 ftu/kg. Decreasing dietary nutritional levels affected performance, mineralization and bone resistance of tight of broilers, but phytase supplementation improved these traits. The bone characteristics of birds fed NC diet supplemented with of 750 ftu of phytase were similar to that obtained with PC.
bone ash; bone resistance; calcium; ileal digestibility; phosphorus; tight tibia
