EFFECT OF REMOVING SALT, SODIUM, OR CHLORIDE FROM THE DIET OF COMMERCIAL LAYERS

Two experiments were conducted with Hy-Line(R) W-36 hens. The hens were 45 and 65 wk old at the start of Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. A corn-soybean meal basal diet was used. Four diets were fed for 19 days: 1) control; 2) no added NaCl; 3) no added NaCl with Na supplied as NaHCO3; and 4) no added Na with Cl supplied as CaCl2. All hens were fed the control diet from Day 20 to Day 84. Hens fed a diet without NaCl reached zero production in 9.8 and 13.3 days in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Hens fed the diet without Na reached zero production in 10.3 and 13.1 days in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Only a few of the hens fed the diets with no Cl reached zero production. Time required for all hens to return to production after returning to control diets were 16.0, 15.7, and 6.0 days for hens receiving no added NaCl, Na, or Cl, respectively in Experiment 1, and 13.2, 15.0, and .6 days in Experiment 2. Molting occurred in 92.7, 77.8, and 24.2% of the hens receiving the no NaCl, Na or Cl, respectively, in Experiment 1, and 80.0, 72.5, 30% in Experiment 2. Mortality rates were 7.5, 12.5, 20.0, and 5.0% for the hens receiving diets with no NaCl, Na, Cl, or control, respectively, in Experiment 1, and 2.5, 10.0, 20.0, and 0% in Experiment 2.