Effect of Different Litter Materials on the Performance of Broiler Chicken

The present study attempts to analyze the effect of different types of litter materials on the performance of broilers. Total 300 unsexed day-old broiler chicks (Cobb-400) were used on a completely randomized design in fve treatments with four replicates, each consisting of 15 broilers. The treatments comprises of saw dust, wheat straw, rice husk, river bed sand and sandy soil (Balu ret) as litter materials. Standard feeding and management practices were followed during the experimental period. The effect of different treatments on growth parameters of broilers i.e. body weight, bodyweight gains, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were observed on regular interval of time. The results showed that feed conversion ratio was signifcantly different (p<0.05) among the litter types selected during 3^rd and 4^th week of experiment and other parameters were non-signifcant during the growing interval of broilers. The present study investigated the effect of different litter materials on broiler chicken performance may be viable for use of unconventional litter materials for broilers production due to cheap and locally available to the poultry entrepreneurs.