Poultry diets need to be supplemented with sodium, an element essential for many physiological functions. However, the source type of sodium is a key factor in achieving an optimum diet. It is commonly accepted by nutritionists that the physiological ratio between chloride and sodium is below one.
Poultry diets need to be supplemented with sodium, an element essential for many physiological functions. However, the source type of sodium is a key factor in achieving an optimum diet. It is commonly accepted by nutritionists that the physiological ratio between chloride and sodium is below one. Considering the sodium (39%) and chloride (60%) concentrations in salt, it is obvious that the sodium requirement should not be met just through the salt. Otherwise, the dietary chloride concentration will exceed the chloride requirement, which subsequently can reduce and impair dietary electrolyte balance (DEB). Any imbalance in DEB will increase the metabolic acid load and initiate a regulatory process by the bones, lungs, or kidneys. A low DEB in a long term is associated with bone and skeletal disorders. Therefore, nutritionists need to consider meeting chloride requirements using salt, and then sodium requirements using chloride-free source of sodium such as: sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium sesquicarbonate, sodium formate or sodium sulfate. Among these products, sodium sulfate is a cost-effective chloride-free source of sodium as it contains 32% sodium, which is greater than that of the previously mentioned sodium sources. In addition, compared to sodium bicarbonate or sodium carbonate, sodium sulfate has a much lower acid binding capacity, meaning that using sodium sulfate limits the dietary buffering effect in the upper digestive tract. A lower feed buffering capacity improves protein digestibility and increases efficacy of any organic acid used. In conclusion, balancing dietary sodium should be considered not only from a dietary perspective but also from a holistic physiological aspect.
References:
- Araujo A.C. et al. Analysis of performance, bone characteristics, and expression of genes involved in the balance of ionic concentrations in broilers subjected to dietary electrolyte balance levels. British Poultry Science, 2021.
- Szabó J. et al. Effect of dietary electrolyte balance on production, immune response and mineral concentrations of the femur in broilers. Acta Veterinaria Hungarica, 2011.
- Mercier Y. et al. Dietary adjustment in sodium for growing broilers: bicarbonate or sulfate? Journées de la Recherche Avicole, 2005.
Mohammad was the PIP team Research Associate (2021-2024) with extensive experience in poultry nutrition. He wrote science articles for newsletters and worked on developing adaptations and recommendations to support the adoption of new managerial tools, products, services, and practices by the poultry industry.
Looking at his poultry industry perspective, Mohammad has been serving the poultry industry through his extensive experience in feed formulation as an animal nutritionist over the past ten years. He was also a university lecturer for 10 years. Mohammad was a member of the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) at the U of A. Mohammad graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Alberta with a Postdoctoral fellowship before moving to his Research Associate position with the PIP team. Serving the poultry industry as an animal nutritionist for more than a decade, Mohammad loves teaching and worked as a university lecturer in Iran and a teaching assistant at the U of A. Mohammad was inspired by Dr. Frank Robinson, practicing the inquiry-based learning method when working as a TA in his “Principles of Animal Agriculture” class. “I have a strong passion on poultry nutrition and have always loved to help poultry producers with optimizing the poultry systems. The challenging part of working with live animals is that you need to be on call even as a nutritionist. However, the joy of seeing healthy animals and help with their welfare overcome the challenging part.”
