Effective Levels of Sulfate Supplementation in Broiler Diets

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted studying the effects of inorganic sulfate supplementation fed to floor as well as battery reared broiler chicks. A significant growth response was obtained by the addition of 0.15% dl-methionine to a corn-soy basal ration containing 0.66% total sulfur amino acids. Increasing the methionine level to 0.30% did not produce a further significant growth response. The addition of 0.16% sodium sulfate was most effective in stimulating growth in chicks in this study. Furthermore, supplementing the diet with dl-methionine produced a significant improvement in feed conversion while the addition of up to 0.64% sodium sulfate did not have a similar effect. Somewhat similar results were obtained when potassium sulfate replaced sodium sulfate in the diet. No significant differences were observed in growth rate when ammonium sulfate, sodium sulfate or potassium sulfate were compared in an experiment where floor reared broiler chicks were fed practical rations. However, MHA was a significantly better converter of feed to gain than any of the inorganic sulfate sources. Results from Experiment 4 where several ratios of MHA and potassium sulfate were supplemented to a corn-soy diet and fed to floor reared broiler chicks, indicated that the optimal inorganic sulfate supplementation is between 25 and 50% of the supplemental sulfur amino acid needed to meet accepted requirements. At the 25% supplementation level, inorganic sulfate would provide about 6% of the total sulfur in practical diets.