Studies on semduramicin and nutritional responses: 3. Electrolyte balance

Four experiments were conducted to determine whether fluctuations in dietar y electrolyte level (milliequivalents Na+K-Cl per kilogram) or different di etary sodium chloride levels would affect performance water intake, or excr eta moisture of chickens fed semduramicin vs nonmedicated controls. In all experiments, male commercial broiler chicks were used, and all diets were f ed with and without 25 mg semduramicin/kg diet. The basal diets were based on corn, soybean meal, and poultry oil. Experiments 1, 3, and 4 were conducted using male broiler chicks in battery brooders to 18 d of age. In Experiment 1, six electrolyte levels were fed [basal (0.2% Na, 0.33% Cl, 1.10% K); basal plus 0.1% Na (from sodium chlori de); basal plus 0.1% K (from potassium chloride); basal plus 0.2% Na (from sodium carbonate); basal plus 0.34% K (from potassium chloride); basal plus 0.15% Cl (from ammonium chloride)]. There were no significant changes in B W gain, feed consumption, or feed conversion ratio caused by any dietary tr eatment. Water consumption was not affected by the inclusion of Na, CI, K, or electrolyte levels, but excreta moisture was affected, The highest and l owest excreta moisture levels came from chicks fed the lowest chloride leve ls. There were no significant dietary effects on serum Na, Cl, or K by diet ary electrolytes or semduramicin. Experiment 2 was conducted with triplicat e floor pens of 33 male broilers each for 42 d with four electrolyte levels [basal (0.2% Na, 0.34% Cl, 1.03% K); basal. plus 0.1% Na (from sodium carb onate); basal plus 0.1% Cl (from ammonium chloride); basal plus 0.18% K (fr om potassium carbonate)]. Increasing electrolyte level had a significant ef fect on BW gain at 35 d but not at 42 d [mainly because of differences in K (1.943 kg at 35 d) vs Cl (2.013 kg at 35 d)]. At 42 d, there were no diffe rences in growth because of N, K, Cl, or semduramicin. Potassium supplement ation caused a significant increase in litter moisture (P = 0.031). Semdura micin did not affect litter moisture (P = 0.892), nor were there significan t semduramicin interactions with Na, K, Cl, or semduramicin. The basal diets in Experiments 3 and 4 were identical to the basal diet in Experiment 1 except there was no sodium chloride added. The diets fed in Ex periment 3 contained 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, or 0.4% added sodium chloride. The d iets fed in Experiment 4 contained 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9% added sodium chloride. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 show that about 0.4% added so dium chloride is necessary to achieve maximum growth and feed conversion. I t is clear that semduramicin had no significant effect upon the variation o bserved in any of the variables measured.