Effect of Dietary Supplementation with Calcium, Phosphorus and Vitamin D₃ on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Serum Biochemical Parameters of Growing Blue Foxes

Abstract

Based on the randomized design, a 3 × 3 factorial experiment was designed to examine the effects of dietary calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and vitamin D3 (VD3) supplemental levels with a fixed 1.5/1 ratio of Ca to P on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and serum biochemical indices blue foxes’ growth. In total, 135 male blue foxes with the age of 60 days were randomly divided into 9 groups each with 15 blue foxes. The blue foxes belonging to the nine treatment groups were fed Ca supplementation (0%, 0.4%, or 0.8%) and VD3 supplementation (1000, 2000, or 4000 IU/kg DM). The base diet contained 0.8% Ca and 327 IU/kg VD3. The dosage of VD3 in blue foxes showed a significant impact on their growth performance (p p 3 doses showed promising effects on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in growing blue foxes and could reduce fecal N and P via improvement in protein and P utilization.

Keywords

• blue fox
• calcium
• growth performance
• phosphorus
• vitamin D₃