A study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different litter materials on the performance of broilers under hot-humid conditions prevailing in Kerala. Two hundred and ten, one-day-old straight run commercial broiler chicks (Cobb) were procured and distributed to five different treatment groups with three replicates of fourteen birds each. In the control group (TI) wood shavings was used as the litter material. In the other treatment groups, saw dust (T2) rice husk (T3), coir pith (T4) and paddy chaff (T5)were used as litter materials. Production parameters like body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and processing yields and losses were not influenced by the different litter treatments upto eight weeks of age. Cost benefit analysis revealed that net profit per bird was least in wood shavings litter (T) and maximum in coir pith litter (T) at six and eight weeks of age.
Litter materials, broilers
