The course of phosphorus excretion in growing pigs fed continuously increasing phosphorus concentrations after a phosphorus depletion

Abstract

A balance study was performed in order to quantify the effect of continuously increased phosphorus (P) intake on faecal and urinary P excretion. The aim was to quantify the level of intake where regulatory P excretion becomes relevant for comparative digestibility measurements on P, and when the pig adapts its urinary P excretion to increased P intake. Phosphorus intake of growing pigs was continuously increased on a daily basis starting at a marginal level and P excretion via faeces and urine was continuously followed for 92 days. Two semi‐synthetic diets were prepared with different proportions of Na₂HPO₄ resulting in 2.4 (diet 1) and 6.3 (diet 2) g P/kg DM. Concentration of Ca was adapted to achieve a Ca supply of ∼3.1 fold the digestible P supply. Six castrated male crossbred pigs (31 kg BW) were kept individually in metabolism crates after they had undergone a 14 d P depletion period during which they were fed diet 1 solely. Pigs received 1.04 kg of diet 1 per day throughout the experiment, and each day the amount of feed and P supplied to pigs from diet 2 was increased by 12 g and 69 mg, respectively. ME supply was ∼2.4 fold maintenance and average daily BW gain of pigs during the entire experiment was 690 ± 30 g.

While intake increased linearly, faecal excretion of P and Ca increased non‐linearly and could be best described by third order polynomial functions. The proportion of ingested P not excreted via faeces followed a quadratic type of curve with a maximum of 81% at 25 days on experiment and P intake of 4.0 g/d. Thereafter, the proportion decreased continuously. The digestibility of P from diet 2, determined by the slope ratio technique, was constant and not affected by P intake up to a P intake of 5 g/d. Renal P excretion did not exceed inevitable losses until day 60 and increased exponentially thereafter when body P reserves were restored. It is concluded, that an adaptation to surplus P supply occurred earlier on the intestinal than on the renal level. While faecal P excretion appeared regulated depending on the actual requirement for P retention, the regulation via urine depended on the P status of the pig. Once the renal P excretion of growing pigs exceeds a level of 25 mg/d, intake of digestible P cannot be regarded sufficiently low to measure P digestibility as a capacity of the feedstuff.

Key words:

• Pig
• Phosphorus
• Intake
• Adaptation
• Faecal excretion
• Urinary excretion
• Digestibility