Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 A graduate of the Master's degree of Urmia University International Campus
2 جانبازان کوی 18 پلاک 14 طبقه 4 و 5
3 Faculty Member of the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University
4 Faculty Member of the Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University
5 Faculty Member of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of different sodium levels in the starter diet on performance, carcass traits, yolk sac absorption, and blood metabolites, 420 one-day-old male (Ross 308) broiler chicks were used in completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 6 replications, and 14 chicks per replication. The experimental treatments included sodium levels of 0.18%, 0.20%, 0.22%, 0.24%, and 0.26% in the starter diets. Increasing sodium levels led to a linear (P < 0.01) increase in body weight gain during the 1-10 and 1-30 day periods, and a linear (P < 0.05) increase in feed intake from days 1-10. At 3 and 5 days of age, relative weights of yolk sac and carcass linearly decreased (P < 0.01) and increased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), respectively, with increasing sodium level in the starter diet. Relative weights of small intestine, liver, bursa of fabricius, and spleen (P < 0.01) increased linearly (P < 0.05) with increasing sodium level in the starter diet. Increasing the sodium level in the starter diet led to linear (P < 0.01) increases in plasma sodium, osmolarity, and glucose levels. Overall, increasing the sodium percentage in the starter diet to 0.26% led to improved body weight gain (8.39% during the starter period, 8.27% over the entire period) and carcass yield (8.60% at 5 days of age), reduced relative yolk sac weight (41.50% at 3 days of age, 27.13% at 5 days of age), and increased small intestine relative weight (8.72% at 5 days of age).
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