Availability to White Rats of Phosphorus in Soybean and Red Clover Hays

Abstract

When the experimental diets contain phosphorus at a minimal level of adequacy and all other nutrients at optimal levels and essentially the same for all diets, the phosphorus of a low phosphorus soybean or red clover hay is less available to the rat for growth and bone development than the phosphorus of a high phosphorus hay of the same type. Evidence has been presented indicating that for the rat, with the total phosphorus of the diet at a minimal level, an increase in Ca/P ratio is accompanied by a decrease in food consumption and in the amount of phosphorus stored in the animal's body.