An evaluation of the current study shows that increasing
the level of vitamin D3 in the maternal diet increased
body weight gain of the progeny. The results from these
studies, although not always statistically significant for
tibia ash, TD, and Ca rickets incidence throughout the
different experiments with the progeny, suggest that the
requirement of broiler breeder hens to produce the heaviest
and healthiest chicks is considerably higher than the
requirement for maximum egg production of the hens
(2,800 IU of vitamin D3/kg of diet; Atencio et al., 2004a,b)
and higher than the NRC (1994) or Scott et al. (1982)
recommendations, especially when birds are raised in
environments having almost no measurable UV light.