Effects of sawdust thickness on the growth performance, environmental condition, and welfare quality of yellow broilers
2015
Shao, Dan | He, Jiao | Lu, Jian | Wang, Qiang | Chang, Lingling | Shi, Shou Rong | Bing, Tong Hai
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of litter thickness on growth performance, immune status, environmental condition, and welfare quality in yellow broilers. In total, 1,800 one-day-old Suqin yellow broilers were raised for 21 d. On d 22, 1,600 birds of similar BW (404 ± 12 g) were randomly selected and placed into 20 indoor pens (8 birds/m², 10 m²/pen). These birds were assigned to a litter treatment of 4, 8, 12, and 16 cm. Each treatment was repeated in five pens. The results showed that a thicker litter was related to increased BW, daily weight gain, and daily feed intake (P < 0.001). Feed conversion ratio and mortality were unaffected by litter thickness (P = 0.320, P = 0.353, respectively). Absolute and relative liver weights showed a significant linear response to increasing litter thickness (P = 0.01, P = 0.001, respectively). The litter moisture content, air ammonia, and CO₂ content decreased, whereas the air dust content increased with increasing litter thickness (P < 0.001, P = 0.017, P = 0.033, P < 0.001, respectively). Litter thickness had no effect on gait, plumage damage, hock burn or breast skin crusting (P = 0.076, P = 0.964, P = 0.131, P = 0.401, respectively). Plumage cleanliness, foot pad dermatitis, hock swelling and breast blister varied significantly with litter thickness (P = 0.027, P = 0.011, P = 0.014, P = 0.042, respectively). The results of this study suggest that an increasing litter thickness has a beneficial effect on the growth performance, environmental condition and welfare of birds.
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