Impact of reusage of alternative litter treatments on overall growth performance and welfare of broiler chicks

Babu, R.N., Kaur, D., Kaur, P., Kaur, P., Singh, Y., Uniyal, S. and Malik, D.S. 2024. Impact of reusage of alternative litter treatments on overall growth performance & welfare of broiler chicks. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 59(1): 59–64.

Bedding material maintained previously under three conditions viz., fresh, heat treated and acidified litter using Sodium bisulfate as abatement, was reused to study the impact of re-usage on growth, health and welfare of subsequent batch of broiler chicks. All the three types of litter materials were dried using sun drying and deep stacking procedure. A Control group (without undergoing any litter treatment) and two treatment groups: - Used Heat Treated Litter (UHTL) and Used Sodium bisulfate Treated Litter (USBTL) respectively were randomly assigned to 180 day-old commercial broiler chicks with equal body weights. All of the reused litter groups’ birds outperformed each other in terms of growth, feed intake, FCR, and other parameters. USBTL group showed significantly (p<0.05) highest value (1687g) followed by UHTL (1656g) and Control (1596g) being the lowest. No significant (p<0.05) difference was obtained with respect to in house ammonia (in ppm) among the litter treated groups. From a statistical perspective the reused litter groups outperformed the Control group (p<0.05). However, a non-significant (p>0.05) difference was found with respect to carcass characteristics of broiler chicks and microbial load of litter materials. Recycled litter materials were found to have a positive impact on the overall growth performance, carcass features, health, and welfare of broiler chicks, which made the practice cost-effective and provided a way for broiler farmers to raise chicks economically.