New Research on Sulphates
in Poultry Drinking Water

by Carlyle Bennett, Dept. of Animal & Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan

The sulphate salts are sometimes confused with two other minerals, sodium and chloride, which are also called "salts". The effect of sulphates on birds, however, can be much different from the effect of sodium and chloride. Unlike sodium and chloride, sulphates are poorly absorbed in a bird's intestine and cannot help to replace any of the salt in the feed. If a producer has high sulphates in the drinking water, the salt level in the feed can only be reduced if the water also has high levels of sodium and chloride. Dr. John Patience's survey has shown that high sulphate water often has low levels of sodium or chloride.

While moderate levels of sulphates can cause wet litter or dirty eggs due to loose droppings, sulphate levels must be very high before they will interfere with growth or egg production.

Preliminary results from research done by Dr. Iian Christison at the University of Saskatchewan indicates that even young chicks are not strongly affected by high sulphate water. In this research, chicks were given water with 2,700 mg/L sulphates. Birds on high sulphates grew just as quickly as birds on low sulphate water, although they did drink more water. In further trials, the chicks on high sulphate water still grew as well as birds on normal water. Some caution is needed, however, because some signs of increased leg problems were seen in the birds on the high sulphate water.

Researchers at Agriculture Canada have studied the effect of water with 1,500 mg/L of sulphates on laying hens. The high sulphates did not harm feed intake, egg production, egg weight or egg quality. The only noticeable effect was an increase in water consumption.

For many producers, the major problem presented by sulphates in the water is to ventilate the barn to keep the litter and manure dry.