Combination of phytase and citric acid, but not phytase alone, ensures regular rates of growth and bone mineralization in quails under severe phosphorus restriction

: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of phytase (PHY), alone or in combination with citric acid (CA), on growing Japanese quails under moderate and severe phosphorus (P) restriction. For this, 504 one-day-old female quails were distributed in a completely randomised design with seven treatments and six replications. Treatments consisted of the following diets: (a) positive control (PC): formulated according to quails nutritional requirements; (b) negative control 40% (NC40 ): PC with 40% less aP; (c) NC40 +PHY; (d) NC40 +PHY+CA; (e) negative control 65% (NC65 ): PC with 65% less aP; (f) NC65 +PHY; (g) NC65 +PHY+CA. Phytase and CA were included at 300 FTU/kg and 40 g/kg, respectively. Performance, bone mineralization and plasma mineral concentration were evaluated at day 35; calcium (Ca) and P metabolism, between days 36 and 39. No significant differences in performance, plasma Ca and P were detected between quails fed PC or NC40 ; however, NC40 decreased tibia ash (p < 0.01). Treatment NC65 impaired daily weight gain (p = 0.01), tibia ash (p < 0.01), and tibia optical densitometry (p = 0.03), as well as modified plasma Ca (p < 0.01) and P (p = 0.03) concentrations when compared to PC. Both NC40 and NC65 reduced P excretion (p < 0.01). Phytase alone restored tibia ash of NC40 quails to regular rates. Nevertheless, only PHY and CA combined returned plasma P, tibia ash, tibia optical densitometry, and daily weight gain of quails fed NC65 to similar values as those observed in PC. In conclusion, PHY alone suppresses the negative effects of moderate P restriction in growing Japanese quails, but fails in this task under severe P restriction. In such a situation, only the combination of PHY and CA ensures regular rates of growth and bone mineralization. This concept should be better explored by producers in order to take full advantage of the reduction in P excretion achieved by lowering dietary P concentrations.