The sodium requirements of growing chickens

Abstract

A diet, based on wheatmeal and soybean meal, was fed to chickens and was shown to be deficient in sodium but not in chloride, using reduced growth rate from 14 to 20 days of age as the main criterion of deficiency. The same diet fed to chickens from hatching to five weeks of age produced almost complete cessation of growth during the last week, caused heavy mortality, greatly impaired feed conversion, and increased adrenal gland size in relation to body weight. Using this diet and additions of sodium, the minimum sodium requirement was estimated to be 0.18 per cent of the diet for maximum growth and minimum feed conversion ratio, and slightly lower than this for maximum viability and minimum adrenal gland activity.