Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Associate Professor of Poultry Production, Animal Production Dept., Fac. of Agric., Al-Azhar Univ., Cairo, Egypt
2
Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11651, Egypt
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of some locally available litter materials and their impacts on productivity, health status, carcass traits and welfare as well as the economic efficiency of broiler chickens reared on these types of litter. A total of 450 unsexed one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into equal five experimental groups, three replicates each. The groups of five different litter materials were as follows; wood shaving (WD), wheat straw (WS), sand (SL), bean straw (BS) and rice husk (RH). The results indicated that each type of litter had its unique physical and physicochemical characteristics and significantly (P≤0.05) affected the most traits studied; productive performance (LBW, BWG, FI, FCR, livability %, and EPEI), economic feasibility, behavior patterns, and welfare. Except that, carcass characteristics were insignificant (P>0.05) between all types of litter. Compared different types of litter, WD and SL significantly improved growth performance (BWG, ADG, final LBW, FI, FCR and EPEI). Moreover, WD and SL improved (P≤0.05) the economic efficiency, behavior patterns, and birds’ welfare. But interestingly, the group reared on the sand litter was surpassed all other litter types groups in respect to productivity, behavior, and welfare. Finally, it is concluded that among the available litter materials tested in this study, sand can be used as an alternative litter of straw- and rice husk-based litter for broiler chickens without adverse implications on birds’ performance and welfare.
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