ABSTRACT Sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl–) nutritional requirements, dietary electrolyte balance (DEB), and their effects on acid-base balance, litter moisture, and tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) incidence for young broiler chickens were evaluated in two trials. One-day-old Cobb broilers were distributed in a completely randomized design with six treatments, five replicates, and 50 birds per experimental unit. Treatments used in both experiments were a basal diet with 0.10% Na+ (Experiment 1) or Cl– (Experiment 2) supplemented to result in diets with Na+ or Cl– levels of 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, or 0.35%, respectively. In Experiment 1, results indicated an optimum Na+ requirement of 0.26%. Sodium levels caused a linear increase in arterial blood gas parameters, indicating an alkalogenic effect of Na+. The hypertrophic area of growth plate in the proximal tibiotarsi decreased with Na+ levels. The TD incidence decreased with increases in dietary Na+. Litter moisture increased linearly with sodium levels. In Experiment 2, the Cl– requirement was estimated as 0.25%. Chloride levels caused a quadratic effect (P is less than or equal to 0.01) on blood gas parameters, with an estimated equilibrium [blood base excess (BE) = 0] at 0.30% of dietary Cl–. No Cl– treatment effects (P is more than or equal to 0.05) were observed on litter moisture or TD incidence. The best DEB for maximum performance was 298 to 315 mEq/kg in Experiment 1 and 246 to 264 mEq/kg in Experiment 2. We concluded that the Na+ and Cl– requirements for optimum performance of young broiler chickens were 0.28 and 0.25%, respectively.
(Key Words: acid-base balance, chloride, sodium, tibial dyschondroplasia)
2001 Poultry Science 80:592-598
© 2001, by the Poultry Science Association. All rights reserved.