The Effect of Level of Dietary Calcium and Phosphorus on Skeletal Development in the Young Pig to 25 Lb Live Weight.

In this series of papers the first (Blair, 1963) described synthetic diets for young pigs, and the second (Blair, Diack & McPherson, 1963) described the pattern of development of the limb bones of suckled pigs during the first 8 weeks of life. The aim of the study now described was to determine what dietary levels of calcium and phosphorus, with or without the addition of fresh ox liver, would promote satisfactory bone development in piglets weaned from the sow at about 10 days of age. The criteria used to assess bone development were: the width of the distal epiphysial cartilage of the ulna; the relationship between epiphysial size and live weight; the weight of the dry fat-free skeleton and the amount and composition of the ash; and bone density measured radiographically.