THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DIETARY SODIUM LEVELS ON BLOOD ELECTROLYTES, GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND FOOT PAD DERMATITIS INCIDENCE IN TURKEYS*

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different dietary sodium levels on serum macroelement concentrations, growth performance and incidence of foot pad dermatitis (FPD) in female turkeys raised to six weeks of age. The influence of a low-sodium diet (without additional sodium) and diets supplemented with NaCl to increase so-dium content by 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 g kg–1 was compared. The dietary electrolyte ba-lance (DEB) was high (242-248 mEq kg–1) due to a high potassium content (11.0 g kg–1). Turkeys fed the low-sodium diet were characterized by significantly lower concentra-tions of chloride (p=0.002) and phosphorus (p<0.001), and significantly higher magnesium levels (p<0.001), compared with the other groups. The lowest dietary inclusion of sodium (0.5 g kg–1) contributed to a significant incre-ase in the body weights of turkeys at six weeks of age (p<0.001), and it improved feed conversion efficiency (p<0.001) in comparison with the low-sodium diet. No significant dif-ferences in body weight and feed conversion ratio followed experimental treatments with higher dietary NaCl addition. Diets supplemented with different amounts of sodium ha