Some Effects on Turkeys of Nitrate in the Drinking Water

INTRODUCTION EXPERIMENTAL evidence was presented in a previous report suggesting the poult is more susceptible to nitrate toxicity than the chick and laying hen (Adams et al., 1966). Arends et al. (1967) reported that sodium nitrate, at a level equivalent to 675 p.p.m. nitrate, caused heavier body weights at subsequent ages, when added to the drinking water of two strains of Broad Breasted Bronze to four weeks of age. The effect was more pronounced in males than females. However, a similar response was not obtained from poults receiving an equivalent level of nitrate as potassium nitrate in the water or sodium nitrate in the feed equivalent to 1,000 p.p.m. nitrate. More recently Marrett and Sunde (1968) reported that chicks up to five weeks old were more tolerant to nitrate and nitrite in the feed than poults. They also found that mortality and rate of respiration were increased and growth reduced…