Effect of inoculants in improving the keeping quality of broiler litter

An experiment was undertaken to study the effect of inoculants in improving the keeping quality of broiler litter. Litter material was obtained from broiler birds, reared on chaffed wheat (T1 to T6) and paddy straw (T7 to T12) amended with superphosphate at 0 day and 21st day (T5, T6, T11 & T12) and at 14th day (T3, T4, T9 & T10) in different groups of respective litter material. The litter material was then mixed with 10% molasses (on dry matter basis). The treatment groups (T1, T3, T5, T7, T9 & T11) were inoculated with 1% (v/w) fermented milk on fresh weight basis whereas treatment groups (T2, T4, T6, T8, T10 & T12) were not inoculated. All the stacks were covered with polythene sheet and deep stacked for 21 days. The dry matter loss was observed to be 62.4 to 63.7 among various treatments. The loss of dry matter was 1–2% less in treatments inoculated with fermented milk compared to un-inoculated treatments. Loss of about 14 to 23 percent nitrogen was observed in different treatments. With the addition of fermented milk the loss of crude protein was significantly (P< 0.05) reduced. Reduction in crude fibre content was non-significant whereas ether extract and total ash had slightly higher values. Therefore, the inoculation of litter material with fermented milk at the rate of 1% (v/w) on fresh weight basis is helpful in minimizing loss of nutrients and improves the keeping quality.