One experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of sodium levels on performance of laying hens in second phase of egg production. Two hundred and sixteen laying hens (Hy-line W-36), after forced molt at 60 weeks of age, were used. The experimental design was a factorial with three sodium levels (.15, .25, and .35%) during 30 days after fasting period and the same levels on the production period. Four periods of 28 days each were evaluated concerning the following parameters: egg production, feed intake, feed conversion, egg mass, albumen quality, egg percentage, egg specific gravity and shell thickness. No significant effect of the sodium levels on studied parameters was observed. However, the smaller result for shell thickness was found at .15% sodium level. The level of .15% sodium in the fasting period and .25% sodium in the production period were enough to met the nutritional requirement of laying hens at the second cycle of egg production.
forced molt; laying hen; shell quality; sodium levels
