One of alternative foods for broiler turkeys might be inexpensive corn silage added to the typical formula. Although the addition of corn silage to the daily meal is well accepted by turkeys, the growth rate, according to our observations, is diminished. So far, very little attention has been paid to the manipulation of DCAD in growing turkeys. Since one of the causes of the growth rate suppression by silage may be a deviation in DCAD, we sought to determine whether lowering or increasing these values may improve the performance of growing young turkeys. It is known that in other species a higher DCAD stimulates the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of protein and dry matter, but concomitantly the maintenance energy expenditure (MEm) is also higher (20,22). At least in some species, a lower acidic content and high potassium in the diet enhance both bone accretion and bone health. Seemingly, Kim et al. (14) discovered that, in opposition to chloride, cation supplementation alleviates the lysine-arginine antagonism in chicks.Hitherto, our attention in broilers has been focused on the specific effects of cations and anions in the diet (1, 13, 17, 23). Our aim was to determine the responses of turkeys to a corn silage diet with different values of DCAD and to draw attention to the possible usefulness of this kind of ingredient in turkey farming. Moreover, since the dietary intake has been shown to influence the acid-base balance (ABB), our studies were aimed at clarifying the response of ABB-parameters in turkeys fed a corn silage diet with different DCAD. To obtain Compared to the control group, the anion gap was insignificantly lower in birds exposed to the acidic diet, and was comparable to the decrease in HCO 3 -. Conversely, the addition of NaHCO 3 to the diet led to a marked elevation in HCO 3 -to 29.63 ± 0.4 mEq/L in group D and to 30.3 ± 0.69 mEq/l in group E. In conclusion, a change in DCAD during the feeding of forage containing CS exerts stimulatory effects on productive parameters of turkeys.

Our goal was to determine the responses of body weight (BW) and bone hydroxyproline (Hyp) concentration in turkeys fed a corn silage (CS) diet with different values of dietary cation–anion differences (DCADs). The turkeys (n = 90) were divided into five groups and fed as follows: group A (control)—standard diet (SD) (60%) plus CS (40%); group B—SD (60%), CS (40%) plus 240 g of CaCl2 per 100 kg of diet; group C—SD (60%), CS (40%) plus 480 g of CaCl2 per 100 kg of diet; group D—SD (60%), CS (40%) plus 240 g of NaHCO3 per 100 kg of diet; group E—SD (60%), CS (40%) plus 480 g NaHCO3 per 100 kg of diet. The addition of a lesser amount of CaCl2 lowered the DCAD, which ranged between 52.5 ± 4.19 and 91.14 ± 3.14 mEq/kg DM. An increased content of CaCl2 led to high negative values of DCAD. NaHCO3 supplemented in both doses resulted in a significant elevation of DCAD. Compared to each experimental group, feeding birds with a diet supplemented only with CS resulted in a lower BW. Addition of CaCl2 or NaHCO3 to the diet improved BW, but only CaCl2 addition enhanced the bone Hyp amount. In conclusion, we suggest that an anionic diet with low DCAD can prevent bone abnormalities in large turkeys, especially in the final course of production.