Chlorinated drinking water for lightweight laying hens

Abstract

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of different levels of chlorine in drinking water of laying hens on zootechnical performance, eggs shell quality, hemogasometry levels and calcium content in tibia. 144 HyLine laying hens, 61 weeks old, were used distributed in 24 metabolism cages. They were subjected to water diets, for a period of 28 days, using sodium hypochlorite as a chlorine source in order to obtain the following concentrations: 5ppm (control), 20ppm, 50ppm, and 100ppm. Their performance was evaluated through water consumption, feed intake, egg production and weight, egg mass, feed conversion. Shell quality was measured by specific gravity. At the end of the experiment, arterial blood was collected for blood gas level assessment and a poultry of each replicate was sacrificed to obtain tibia and calcium content measurement. There was a water consumption reduction from 20ppm of chlorine and feed intake reduction in poultry receiving water with 100ppm of chlorine. The regression analysis showed that the higher the level of chlorine in water, the higher the reduction in consumption. There were no differences in egg production and weight, egg mass, feed conversion, specific gravity, tibia calcium content, and hemogasometry levels (hydrogenionic potential, carbon dioxide partial pressure, oxygen partial pressure, sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, carbon dioxide total concentration, anion gap and oxygen saturation). The use of levels above 5ppm of chlorine is not recommended in the water of lightweight laying hens.

Physiological variables and egg quality from quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) that received water with increasing levels of NaCl and under different temperatures

“…Lima et al (2015) observed similar results in quail eggs when researching different levels of sodium in the feed. Schneider et al (2016) did not observe differences in production, weight or specific gravity of eggs of laying hens consuming increasing levels of sodium (5 to 100 ppm). Specific gravity was not influenced by the ambient temperature (Table 2), with averages of 1.06g cm -3 , similar to those mentioned by Silva et al (2017).…”

“…It is ideal to provide birds with water with a salinity of up to 1.5 dS m-1. Quails are tolerant of the consumption of more saline water (Raquel et al, 2011;Lima et al, 2015;Petrucci et al, 2017;Lima, Moraes, & Barreto, 2020) but at high levels, metabolic and consumption alterations may occur, affecting the production and quality of eggs (Petrucci et al, 2017;Schneider et al, 2016). In addition, excessive intake of minerals increases water consumption and reduces the glomerular filtration rate in the kidneys, leading to increased renal excretion, which will be rich in minerals, such as sodium, chlorine and potassium (Freitas et al, 2013;Alahgholi et al, 2014).…”