EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE, WELFARE INDICES AND FAECAL MICROBIAL LOAD OF BROILER CHICKENS REARED UNDER DIFFERENT LITER MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In commercial broiler production, birds are reared on floors using different types of litter material. As poultry production increases, the amount of litter required by the system also increases. Consequently, both litter management and disposal raise important challenges to the poultry industry, and a major parameter is its economy. Litter is composed of bedding material which are mixed with faeces, feed, feathers and water. Its moisture and quality content have been associated with health and performance as well as with broiler welfare, as it should reduce the floor humidity while giving the sense of comfort and allowing natural scratching behaviour (Karamanlis et al., 2008; Skrbic et al., 2012). Litter also help in thermal insulation, moisture absorption, and reduction of ammonia emissions and serves as a protective barrier from the ground (Bjedov et al., 2013). Litter quality may be the origin of environmental and management problems in the commercial poultry industry if not properly selected or managed (Karamanlis et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2010). In broilers, poor growth performance, compromised immune system, and increased incidence of breast burns and blisters, leg abnormalities and footpad dermatitis have been reported in the literature due to litter condition (Bilgili et al., 1999; Garcia et al., 2010). Ideally, the bedding material has to be absorbent, have a reasonable drying time, and be innocuous to poultry and farmers (Grimes et al., 2007). It also needs to meet hygienic requirements and ensure controlled ammonia concentrations throughout the productive cycle (Villagra et al., 2011). Litter management is a major concern in the chicken production not only because of the flock health and productivity, but it may act as potential reservoir and transmission vehicle for pathogens and potential pathogens (Bilgili et al., 2006; Bjedov et al., 2013; Garcês et al., 2013). In seeking increased performance of the poultry, the industry is also concerned with consumer confidence in the food supply chain, thereby endorsing several studies on the management of the litter to reduce the presence of pathogenic bacteria and to improve broiler productive traits. Content may also contribute to improving the competence of the immune system of the birds (Lee et al., 2011). Litter management can significantly affect the efficiency of the broiler immune system and therefore its growth performance.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance, welfare indices, and faecal microbial load of broiler chicken under different litter management.

 1.2   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY  

The specific objectives of this study are to;

v   Determine the effect of litter management on growth performance of broiler chickens.

v   Determine the effect of litter management on number of dust-bathing behaviour of broiler chickens.

v  Determine the effect of litter management on and foot pad and breast lesion of broiler chickens.

v  Determine the effect of litter management on faecal microbial load of broiler chickens

v  Determine the effect of litter management on carcass characteristics of broiler chickens.

1.3  PROBLEM STATEMENT

Poultry farmers are generally faced with the challenges of diseases which could be traced to wet litter. Poor management of litter will result in wet or ammonia accumulation in litter which will result in poor growth performance and diseases outbreak such as coccidiosis, and respiratory tract infection of the birds. With this problem, there will be high rate of mortality which may result in great economic loss to poultry farmers. 

1.4   JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

Most poultry farmers are generally faced with the challenges of proper litter management which affect the performance of the birds. For poultry farmers to make profit the optimum performance of the birds is necessary. A lot of factors influence the optimum performance of the birds of which litter management is one of them. Birds raised on properly managed (dry) litter may perform better than those ones on wet litters. Hence, this study becomes important as it will address issues surrounding litter management for profitability of broilers production.  

Buyers has the right to create dispute within seven (7) days of purchase for 100% refund request when you experience issue with the file received. 

Dispute can only be created when you receive a corrupt file, a wrong file or irregularities in the table of contents and content of the file you received. 

ProjectShelve.com shall either provide the appropriate file within 48hrs or send refund excluding your bank transaction charges. Term and Conditions are applied.

Buyers are expected to confirm that the material you are paying for is available on our website ProjectShelve.com and you have selected the right material, you have also gone through the preliminary pages and it interests you before payment. DO NOT MAKE BANK PAYMENT IF YOUR TOPIC IS NOT ON THE WEBSITE.

In case of payment for a material not available on ProjectShelve.com, the management of ProjectShelve.com has the right to keep your money until you send a topic that is available on our website within 48 hours.

You cannot change topic after receiving material of the topic you ordered and paid for.