Effects of dietary electrolyte balance on performance, energy balance, and expression of genes related to acid-basic balance, absorption, and transport of nutrients in broilers.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary electrolyte balance (DEB) levels on performance characteristics (feed intake, FI; body weight gain, BWG; and feed efficiency, FE), energy balance (retained energy, RE; metabolizable energy ingested, MEI; heat production, HP; and energy retention efficiency, ERE), and the expression of genes related to acid-base balance, nutrient absorption, and transport in broilers from 1 to 21days of age. A total of 245 male Cobb chickens were used in a completely randomized design with five DEB levels (110, 175, 240, 305, and 370mEq/kg) and seven replicates of seven birds each. The inclusion of DEB levels influenced FE; 110mEq/kg provided the better values for this characteristic both in the pre-initial phase and in the initial phase but was different only concerning 175mEq/kg (1-7days) and 240mEq/kg (1-21days). Birds that ingested diets with a level of 240mEq/kg of DEB had a higher MEI and HP. This DEB level caused a lesser and greater expression of the SLC12A2 gene in the liver and the ATP1A1 gene in the intestine, respectively. On the other hand, the ATP1A1 gene was less expressed in the liver and kidney of broilers supplemented with 370mEq/kg compared to a level of 110mEq/kg. In general, a level of 110mEq/kg DEB in the ration seems to be the most suitable for good performance, energy balance, and gene expression of broilers from 1 to 21days of age.