Sodium bisulfate has been a fixture in poultry litter treatment for decades, but ongoing research is revealing a more complex story about how the molecule performs once it reaches the feed and the bird. In this interview, Kyle Smith of Jones-Hamilton discusses with Feed Strategy's Jackie Roembke what nearly 20 years of study have uncovered about the compound's three distinct modes of action — from its effect on crop pH and enzyme efficacy to its role in fortifying gut health at the cellular level — and what that means for nutritionists formulating with animal-feed-grade sodium bisulfate today.
Interview with Kyle Smith, technical sales specialist, Jones-Hamilton - Animal Nutrition & Health Division
Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT Feed Brands and Feed Strategy: Hi everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I'm your host, Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT’s Feed Brands and Feed Strategy.
This Feed Strategy Chat is brought to you by Jones-Hamilton.
For more than 75 years, Jones-Hamilton has applied the power of chemistry to solve challenges across agriculture. In animal nutrition, we work alongside nutritionists and researchers to develop science-backed feed ingredients that support precision nutrition, improve feed quality and help maximize animal performance.
For more information about Jones-Hamilton, visit feedAFG.com.
Today we’re joined by Dr. Kyle Smith, technical sales specialist with Jones-Hamilton’s Animal Nutrition & Health Division. He's here to talk about how ongoing research into sodium bisulfate has revealed three complementary modes of action — supporting digestion, gut health, and feed quality — that are reshaping its role in precision nutrition today.
Hi Kyle, how are you?
Dr. Kyle Smith, technical sales specialist, Jones-Hamilton, Animal Nutrition & Health Division: Great, thanks for having me.
Roembke: Well, let's get right into it. In animal nutrition, it's not uncommon for research to change the way we think about an ingredient over time. You've been studying sodium bisulfate (SBS) at Jones-Hamilton for years. What observations made you realize that there was more to the story of SBS than previously thought?
Smith: For the past 30 years, Jones-Hamilton has been using sodium bisulfate as a litter treatment — namely with our product PLT. Somewhere along the way, we realized that the acidifying benefits we were getting in the litter could also have benefits in the feed, so we started feeding it in poultry diets. We realized there was a lot going on here. One thing led to another — natural scientific curiosity — and it's fair to say that 20 years later, we now know more than we ever have. We've invested a lot into understanding the modes of action and the mechanisms of exactly how this molecule is working.
What we've seen is that the sodium bisulfate molecule has a pKa value of 1.99, meaning whenever it hits moisture in the feed, it readily dissociates. You have three distinct products with three distinct modes of action. Excluding sodium: when that molecule hits water and dissociates, the hydrogen ions drop the pH of the feed, which has a bigger impact going into the crop — it affects the acid-binding capacity of material in the crop, and that improves enzyme efficacy.
Then you have the sulfate portion. We've done a lot of work to demonstrate that sulfate is actually a really good thing, especially when it's by itself and not chelated to a mineral. It's a different mode of action than any other bird gut health tool on the market.
And finally, the hygroscopic activity of the molecule — being so readily able to pull in moisture — actually gives a boost to throughput and pellet quality in the mill. So if you have a mill that's struggling with throughput capacity, we can definitely help. Or if you have really poor PDI, we can help there too.
Roembke: What did the research reveal about the chemistry of the product and how it behaves once it enters the feed and the bird?
Smith: Once the molecule enters the bird, there are really three different modes of action. You have the sodium, which is hugely important for maintaining electrolyte balance. Then you have the sulfate portion, which is donated directly to the intestinal goblet cells — we're upregulating the ratio of sulfomucin-producing goblet cells. We're not creating more mucin or doing anything to feed bacteria, but sulfomucins — and there's a lot of literature on this — are harder for pathogenic bacteria to break down because they're negatively charged from that sulfate. So it really fortifies the gut lining. And finally, the acidification from the hydrogen in the crop upregulates enzyme efficacy, so you're able to get better returns and a little more nutrient release than you'd typically expect.
Roembke: Great. Now, how does this new understanding change the way that nutritionists might think about feed formulation with animal-feed-grade sodium bisulfate, and how does it translate into practical benefits?
Smith: I think it translates very well because, like I said, if you're upregulating enzyme efficacy — whether it's endogenous or exogenous — and you're putting something like phytase into the diet, you're going to get higher activity out of those enzymes, meaning more nutrients are released. You're going to see more of those extra-phosphoric effects as it pertains to something like phytase. And then, of course, helping the intestinal tract and upregulating sulfomucin content there is going to help alleviate some gut health challenges as well.
Roembke: As the industry continues moving toward more precise, or precision, nutrition, where do you see AFG fitting into the future of feed formulation?
Smith: Well, I think ideally we'd like to develop this not as an ingredient, but as a tool — a tool to help nutritionists understand where their acid-binding capacity is in their diets and how to combat that so bird performance can be maximized within a specific set of values. Because there's variability from crop to crop and ingredient to ingredient, you really never know what that buffering capacity is going to be, and it's not something anybody talks about. It's not a new concept, but we're here at Jones-Hamilton trying to develop this, talk about this, and lead the way.
Roembke: Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Kyle. If you'd like to know more about Jones-Hamilton's products and services, please visit feedAFG.com.
Thanks again, Kyle, and thanks to you for tuning in.
Smith: Thanks, Jackie.