The slopes of the different linear dose-response relationships
indicate the bioavailability: a higher slope
indicates a higher bioavailability because the zinc content
in tibia ash is highly responsive to each unit of zinc
supplementation until the requirement is met, whereas
a lower slope indicates lower bioavailability (a smaller
response per unit of zinc supplementation). The slopes
of zinc sulfate and organic zinc are 1.21 and 1.99, respectively,
indicating a relative bioavailability of 164%
for the organic zinc source based on using zinc sulfate
as reference.