Importance of drinking water quality for poultry
2020-12-21
As a nutrient,
water plays an important role in maintaining the health and production performance of livestock and poultry just like feed. The quality of poultry drinking water includes aspects such as microorganisms, pH, hardness, and mineral element content. The current effective standard in my country is "NY 5027-2008 Pollution-Free Food, Livestock and Poultry Drinking Water Quality". This standard has clear regulations on the safety indicators of livestock and poultry drinking water, including sensory properties and general chemical indicators (color, turbidity, odor). Harmony, total hardness, pH, total dissolved solids, sulfate), bacteriological indicators (total E. coli), toxicological indicators (fluoride, cyanide, arsenic, mercury, lead, chromium, nitrate).
Bacteriological indicators for evaluating water quality usually include the total number of bacteria and the number of coliforms. The total number of bacteria is a sign to determine the degree of water contamination, and the total coliform count indicates the degree of water contamination by feces. The fully qualified (good grade) water quality contains total bacteria less than 500CFU/100ml, and Escherichia coli less than 5CFU/100mL. The optimum pH of drinking water is 6~8. It is generally believed that broilers can tolerate a wide range of pH drinking water, but too low or too high pH will inhibit the growth performance of livestock and poultry, resulting in lower egg shell quality. The hardness is mainly calcium carbonate hardness. The effect of drinking water with different hardness on the growth of broilers has not been reported yet. It is generally believed that water hardness mainly affects the effects of drugs and vaccines, and has little effect on the health of broilers. In addition, the water temperature of drinking water in summer also needs to be paid attention to. The low temperature drinking water given to livestock and poultry under heat stress can reduce heat stress and improve growth performance.
Drinking water quality problems in production should be solved in a targeted manner, and the water source water quality problems should be filtered and disinfected. Water tank or drinking nipple water quality problems should be strengthened cleaning work. Ensure the safety of drinking water quality and provide an important guarantee for the healthy production of livestock and poultry.
