The impact of bedding materials on broiler performance

The importance of litter quality for rearing broilers is well recognised (Anisuzzaman and Chowdhury, 1996). Broilers do not reach their genetic potential for weight gain and feed conversion ratio when there is a poor environment including suboptimal litter. Although a variety of products have been used as bedding materials for poultry, the supply and availability of bedding litter is becoming scarce and more expensive. Therefore, alternative sources of litter are of interest to the industry. The objective of the present study was to assess broiler performance housed on pelleted wheat straw as an alternative litter source to commonly used bedding materials including rice hulls, wood shavings, chopped straw and shredded paper. Three hundred and sixty Ross 308 d-old male chicks were used. There were 5 treatments with 6 replicate pens each with 12 birds. Wheat-sorghum-soybean meal diets were formulated to meet the Ross 308 specifications and were fed as starter (0-9 day), grower (10-24 day) and finisher phases (25-35 days). All birds received the same diet in each phase.