Muhammad Khayeer Al-Farouq D11B040
Sodium Chloride ( NaCl)
Sodium chloride is a colorless to white powder or crystalline solid with no odor and a characteristic salty
taste. It is slightly hygroscopic, meaning that it tends to absorb moisture from the air and become damp.
Soluble in water and glycerol very slightly soluble in ethyl alcohol and methyl alcohol.
Salt is probably one of the best known and most widely used of all chemical compounds. Humans have
been using salt as a preservative and to flavor foods since the beginning of recorded time. One of the
earliest mentions of sodium chloride dates to 2,700 BCE in the Chinese book Peng Tzao Kan Mu,
probably the first book on pharmacology ever written. Access to salt resources has often been a
contentious issue among peoples, leading to battles and wars over its ownership. It has been considered at
times to be so valuable that it was used as a form of money. Today, sodium chloride has a host of
applications beyond its use as a food additive.
Sodium chloride occurs naturally as the mineral halite and abundantly in the oceans, where it is found in
seawater at an average concentration of about 2.6 percent. There are several methods for harvesting salt,
some of which date to ancient times. The earliest known method of production is also the simplest:
evaporation of seawater by the Sun. In this method, seawater is collected in large, shallow ponds and
allowed to evaporate. The salts dissolved in the water crystallize on the bottom of the ponds and can be
scraped off and the individual compounds present-including sodium chloride-separated from each other.
This method works best in hot, arid parts of the world. In cooler, moister regions, seawater must be
collected in large containers that can be heated artificially. In many cases, the seawater is heated under
reduced pressure to allow it to boil at a lower temperature and save heating costs. Again, crystals of
sodium chloride (and other dissolved salts) form as the water boils away.
Perhaps the most important source of sodium chloride is salt mines, large underground reserves of sodium
chloride left behind when ancient seas dried up and were buried by the accumulation of rocks and soil.
Salt mines are found in many parts of the world, especially Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, India,
France, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. These mines often span many kilometers and extend
hundreds of meters deep. One of the most famous salt mines in the United States is located under the city
of Detroit. It contains more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) of underground roads built to remove blocks of
sodium chloride, some as wide as four-lane highways. The Detroit mine ceased production in 1983 when
lower salt prices and resulting lower profits were no longer able to sustain the costs of extraction. The
Detroit mine was reopened in 1988, but only for the mining of road salt.
Role of salt in animal nutrition
Common salt contains both sodium and chloride and is also called sodium chloride. Salt is unique in that
animals have a much greater appetite for the sodium and chloride in salt than for other minerals. Because
most plants provide insufficient sodium for animal feeding and may lack adequate chloride content, salt
supplementation is a critical part of a nutritionally balanced diet for animals. In addition, because animals
have a definite appetite for salt, it can be used as a delivery mechanism to ensure adequate intake of less
palatable nutrients and as a feed intake limiter. Actually in general, body animal have approximately
Muhammad Khayeer Al-Farouq D11B040
mechanism to ensure adequate intake of less palatable nutrients and as a feed intake limiter 0.2% sodium.
About half of the sodium content are in muscle and another half goes to bone. In monogastrics animal,
chloride deficieny will lead to extremely poor growth rate, high mortality, nervous symptoms, and
dehydration and reduce blood chloride.
Importance of Sodium Chloride
Digestion and absorption of nutrients
Sodium and chloride are essential for numerous processes in the body including the regulation of osmotic
pressure and acid-base balance. Both sodium and chloride also play important roles in the digestion and
absorption of several nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract. Absorption of glucose and most amino acids
from the small intestine requires an adequate supply of sodium. In cattle, magnesium absorption from the
rumen is dependent on sodium. Chloride is necessary for the production of hydrochloric acid in the
stomach of simple stomach animals and the abomasum of ruminants. Hydrochloric acid is required for the
digestion and absorption of many nutrients. Most feeds are deficient in sodium. Salt is the cheapest and
most common source of sodium and chloride in animal diets. A low intake of salt can reduce nutrient
absorption resulting in reduced growth and efficiency in animals.
Uniqueness of salt as a carrier of other minerals
Sodium is the only mineral that animals clearly exhibit nutritional wisdom. Animals receiving inadequate
sodium in their diet will seek a source of sodium, and if salt or some other source of sodium is available,
they will consume it in amounts sufficient to meet their nutritional sodium requirement. Salt is an
excellent carrier for other minerals included in free choice mineral supplements because of the specific
appetite that animals have for salt. The palatability of salt promotes consumption of minerals in free
choice minerals that would otherwise not be consumed in adequate amounts. Salt also is important in
controlling the consumption of free choice mineral supplements, thus helping to prevent over
consumption of trace minerals, such as copper and selenium, that can cause toxicity.
Heat stress and exercise increase salt requirements
Regulation of body temperature within a fairly narrow range is critical for survival of humans and most
animals. Normal metabolism in the body results in the generation of heat. The temperature of the body is
controlled by processes that cause heat to be retained or dissipated from the body. When the
environmental temperature is high, heat must be lost or dissipated from the body for body temperature to
be maintained in the normal range. Most animals rely on sweating (humans, cattle, horses) or panting
(poultry, dogs, swine, sheep) to dissipate heat and cool the body when environmental temperatures are
high. Panting refers to a rapid shallow breathing which increases the amount of water vaporized in the
mouth and respiratory passages. High environmental temperatures increase losses of electrolytes, such as
sodium, chloride, and potassium in sweat, and therefore can increase requirements for these minerals.
Increasing the level of salt in the diet of some animals may also alleviate some of the adverse effects of
heat stress.
Muhammad Khayeer Al-Farouq D11B040
Exercise will also increase sweating and the effect of exercise on mineral requirements is often
ignored. Exercise in horses greatly increases sweat losses of sodium, chloride, and potassium. Exercising
horses in the summer when environmental temperatures are high will further increase sweat losses. This
newsletter will discuss the effect of heat stress in various animals and exercise in horses on salt
requirements
Suggested amount for animal
Salt can be provided to animals in many ways. It can be used in the form of loose salt or salt blocks.
Loose salt is used in diets mixed for animal feeding. In relatively small pastures, both loose salt and block
salt are self-fed to livestock. With very large pastures or extensive range conditions, where mineral boxes
are difficult to reach, salt blocks are a good solution. In some cases, they are dropped by airplane onto
range areas. Salt blocks can be made for use in specific areas.
For cattle sodium chloride :
 Lactating dairy cow require approximately 0.22% sodium and 0.20% chloride.
 Growing cattle 0.08%
 Lactating cattle 0.10% Sodium Chloride.
For poultry :
 1 to 21 days of age required 0.28% sodium and 0.25% chloride for optimal performance. Under
subtropical summer conditions in Pakistan, broilers required 0.25% sodium and 0.30% chloride
for maximum performance.
 The level of salt used in chicken, turkey, duck, goose, pheasant and quail diets will vary from
0.25% to 0.5%.
 The kind of diet fed, the stage of the life cycle, the environmental conditionsencountered, the
level of productivity and other factors will influence the total level of NaCl to use in the diet.
For sheep:
 NaCl in the diet dry matter. It also indicates that 9% salt in the diet should be the maximum
tolerable level used.
For goat:
 It is estimated that milking goats consume about 18 pounds of salt yearly.
 Meat goats and kids consume about 9 pounds and 4.5 pounds of salt, respectively.
 Heavy milk-producing goats would require higher levels of salt, since milk contains considerable
sodium and chloride.
For swine:
 National Research Council Swine Nutrient Requirements Committee recommends,that 0.20% to
0.25% added sodium chloride will meet dietary sodium and chloride requirements of growingfinishing pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet.
 Pigs weaned at 21 days of age required .40% salt for maximum performance through five weeks
of age.
Muhammad Khayeer Al-Farouq D11B040
For horse:
 Typically 0.5% to 1.0% salt should be added to horse concentrate feeds.
 If the concentrate feed is used as a small part of the diet, it should contain 1% salt.
 If it is used as a major part of the diet, such as a complete feed, then 0.5% salt should be added.
Refference
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Salt and Trace Minerals for Livestock, Poultry and Other Animals. Larry L. Berger, Ph.D
Butler, E.J. 1963. The mineral element content of spring pasture in relation to the
occurrence of grass tetany and hypomagnesaemia in dairy cows. J. Agric. Sci. 60:329340.
Chamorro, S., M.S. Gomez-Conde, R. Carabano, and J.C. de Blas. 2007. Low dietary
sodium content affects digestibility of nutrients and fattening performance in growing
rabbits. Spanish J. Agric. Res. 5:470-473.
Cranwell, P.D., D.E. Noakes, and K. J. Hill. 1976. Gastric secretion and fermentation in
thesuckling pig. Br. J. Nutr. 36:71-86.4
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