Phosphorus kinetics using mathematical models for adult sheep

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to measure the phosphorus (P) flows in adult sheep by mathematical model. The work was conducted with 16 Suffolk sheep, live weight of 38.2±4.35 kg and 18-month aged, kept in individual cage to determine the effect of phosphorus (P) intake by adding bone meal (0, 1, 2 and 3 g P per animal per day) in the basal diet (225 g the concentrate and hay ad libitum). After 21 days, the lambs were injected with 7.4 MBq of ³²P to trace the flows of P in the three compartments gastrointestinal tract, central (blood) and tissues (soft and bone). There was a positive relationship between P intake and P absorbed, P faeces, P urinary and P retained. Fecal endogenous loss of the P was exponentially related to P intake. The high levels of P on diet affected the exchanges between gastrointestinal and urinary tract. Results showed that 0.82 g of the P per day was enough for maintenance of the experimental animals.