Responses in egg shell quality to sodium chloride supplementation of the diet and/or drinking water

1. Supplementing the drinking water of 50-week-old laying hens with sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations between 0.5 and 2 g/l for 7 weeks significantly increased the incidence of egg shell defects and significantly decreased egg shell quality. Dietary NaCl concentrations between 0 and 2 g/kg had little effect on this response. 2. At similar total NaCl intakes egg shell defects were much greater when the NaCl was obtained from the drinking water rather than from the diet. 3. Hens producing eggs with defective shells as a result of receiving saline drinking water failed to recover the ability to lay eggs with good shells after 8 weeks on normal water. 4. The increased incidence of shell damage was not related to decreased food intake or increased egg weight or production.

Effect of varying levels of phosphorus and live yeast culture in caged layer diets

Dietary levels of .31, .36, .41, .46, .51, .56, and .61% total phosphorus (TP) were incorporated into seven corn-soy diets to determine the minimum TP requirement of caged laying hens. Each diet was fed to six lots of 20 hens each for a test period of 308 days. Egg production, feed efficiency, feed consumption, egg weight, and egg breaking strength were the performance criteria. Egg breaking strength was significantly higher while the other performance measures were significantly inferior for hens receiving the .31 TP diet as compared to those hens receiving the other diets. Performance measures of hens receiving diets with TP levels ranging from .41 to .61% were not significantly different. Although hens receiving the .36% TP diet performed significantly better than those receiving diets containing .31% TP, their performance was not satisfactory when compared with performance of hens fed diets containing higher levels of phosphorus. In a second experiment, dietary levels of 0, .25, and .50% live yeast culture (LYC) were fed in combination with TP levels of .40 and .60% to individually caged hens for nine test periods of 28 days each. Each of the test diets was fed to three lots of 12 hens each. Performance criteria in this experiment were the same as those used in the first experiment. Hen responses to the six test diets did not differ significantly for any performance criterion, except for egg breaking strength, which was significantly higher for eggs produced by hens fed diets containing .40% TP level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Short-term exposure of laying hens to high dietary sodium chloride levels

Four replicate pens, each containing five individually caged hens received a corn-soy basal diet to which .4, 1, 2, 4, or 6% NaCl was added during two 21-day experiments. An additional bilevel treatment, approximating a reported commercial feed production problem, consisted of 6% NaCl for 7 days followed by .4% NaCl for the remaining 2 weeks. Egg production was significantly reduced by 4 and 6% NaCl in Experiment 1 and by 2, 4, and 6% NaCl in Experiment 2. The switchback treatment (6-.4% NaCl) did not statistically alter overall egg production in either experiment. Daily water consumption increased significantly when more than 1% NaCl was added, and subsequently with each feed addition. When 6% NaCl was fed for 7 days feed intake was quickly suppressed; this caused a rapid increase in water intake. Water intake returned to normal levels before the end of the second week. Daily feed intake was significantly reduced by a continuous feeding of 4% or more NaCl. A 1-week exposure to the 6% treatment suppressed feed intake quickly but intake recovered within one week. In both experiments, only the continuous 6% NaCl feeding regime of Experiment 1 resulted in a significant loss of body weight or a significant reduction of overall egg weight averages. Mortality was not a factor in either experiment. These data indicate that at least 2% NaCl in feed was required before any significant effects were noted, and that laying hens recovered from a 1-week exposure to 6% NaCl in feed within the following week.

Egg Shell Quality, Medullary Bone Ash, Intestinal Calcium and Phosphorus Absorption, and Calcium-Binding Protein in Phosphorus-Deficient Hens

The effect of dietary phosphorus deficiency on the performance and on various parameters of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D metabolism was studied in laying hens. Phosphorus deficiency resulted in a decline in rate of production and egg weight, probably through appetite depression. The latter, or any secondary calcium deficiency, does not appear to cause the observed reduction in shell quality due to the deficiency. Similar to the response in the chick, phosphorus deficiency resulted in an increase in calcium-binding protein in intestine and kidney, there was no change in the activity of kidney 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3-1-hydroxylase. Percentages of calcium and phosphorus absorption were also higher during phosphorus deficiency. Medullary bone ash, decreased during phosphorus deficiency, was probably due to a reduction in the rate of bone formation.

Interrelationship between sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, calcium, and phosphorus in laying hen diets

Three experiments were conducted with Hy-Line W-36 laying hens housed in individual wire cages in open type houses. The first and second experiments were designed to investigate the effects of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate fed at two levels of dietary total phosphorus (.30 and .60%). The third experiment was designed to study the interrelationships between age and sodium source. Supplementing sodium chloride at two levels (.37 and 1.11%) did not effect hen performance, except that egg production was better at the lower NaCl. Egg production was greater when .60 rather than .30% dietary phosphorus was fed. Egg specific gravity and egg weight were decreased at the lower dietary phosphorus. The addition of 1.6% sodium bicarbonate in the sodium chloride-free diets was deleterious to hen performance in all experiments. High mortality was observed in both experiments in which hens were fed diets containing high sodium and low chloride. Plasma calcium and phosphorus levels were significantly depressed in hens fed diets containing the lower phosphorus. Blood pH, base excess, bicarbonate, and total carbon dioxide were significantly increased by sodium bicarbonate supplementation, and these values were found to be inversely related to dietary phosphorus levels.

Benefits of low sodium in the diets of laying hens during the period prior to forced rest

Two experiments were conducted to study the performance of laying hens when sodium chloride and dicalcium phosphate were removed from the diet for 4 days before beginning the forced rest treatment. Calcium level of the diet was increased 2.4%. When the sodium was removed from the diet, hens laid 3.3 and 1.9 more eggs before going out of production in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively, than hens from which the feed was removed on Day 1. The performance of the hens following the resting period was not influenced by removing the salt from the diet in the prerest period (Days 0 to 4). Egg weight and specific gravity were not affected.

Dietary interaction of phosphorus with sodium from either chloride or bicarbonate affects laying hen performance

Experimental diets consisting of two levels of total phosphorus (.30 and .75%) and three different treatments of supplemental sodium (.35% NaCl, 1.40% NaCl, and .35% NaCl plus 1.50% NaHCO3) were fed in a 2 X 3 factorial arrangement to laying hens for 16 weeks. The latter two treatments of sodium were designed to supply the same level of sodium (.55%) from different chemical forms. Hens fed .30% phosphorus laid significantly (P less than .01) less eggs than those fed .75% phosphorus. A highly significant (P less than .01) interaction was found between phosphorus and sodium treatments. The high level of sodium from either chloride or bicarbonate decreased egg production at the lower level of phosphorus and increased it when the higher level of phosphorus was fed. Sodium bicarbonate affected egg production more strongly than sodium chloride did. There were no significant treatment effects on egg weight and egg shell weight. Addition of sodium bicarbonate to the low phosphorus diet significantly (P less than .05) decreased feed consumption of the hen. Supplemental sodium bicarbonate with either level of dietary phosphorus significantly (P less than .05) increased percent nitrogen retention of the hen, but excessive sodium chloride did not.