March 2014 Articles

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"New" Bedding for Broilers

“New” Bedding for Broilers Source: Theresia Lavergne, Ph.D., P.A.S., Professor – Poultry LSU AgCenter, School of Animal Sciences
LSU AgCenter faculty are evaluating new sources of bedding for the commercial broiler industry. These beddings are being evaluated at the Central Research Station Poultry Unit in Baton Rouge and at the Hill Farm Broiler Demonstration Houses in Homer. One of the beddings is a pelleted pine wood fiber, and the other bedding is a pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled “old corrugated container” (OCC) cardboard. The recycled OCC cardboard has a chemical applied to it prior to bird placement. This chemical allows the fiber to increase its absorption of urea and phosphorus.
At the Central Research Station Poultry Unit, we have grown two flocks on the beddings and the third flock will be placed in January. We are comparing broilers reared on wood shavings, rice hulls, pelleted pine wood fiber, and pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard. At total of 28 pens are being used with seven pens (replicates) of each bedding type. For the first flock, broilers reared on the pelleted wood fiber bedding were heavier at 42 days of age (5.25 lbs. vs. 5.05 lbs.), had higher average daily gain, and higher average daily feed intake. Also, litter moisture, litter ammonium nitrogen, litter total phosphorus, and litter water soluble phosphorus were lower in pens with the pelleted pine wood fiber bedding and the pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard, compared to pens with wood shavings and rice hulls. There were no foot pad lesions on any broilers on any of the bedding sources.
In the second flock reared on the used beddings, there were no differences in broiler growth performance. Body weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed efficiency were the same for all broilers no matter which bedding source they were reared on. Litter moisture and litter ammonium nitrogen were lower in the pens with the pelleted pine wood fiber bedding and the pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard, compared to pens with wood shavings and rice hulls. The litter is being analyzed for total phosphorus and water soluble phosphorus. Again, there were no foot pad lesions on any broilers on any of the bedding sources.
At the Hill Farm Broiler Demonstration Houses, a demonstration is being conducted to compare the pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard bedding to wood shavings for commercial broiler production. The first flock has just been sold and bird growth and performance information will be available soon. Preliminary information indicates that the pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard had lower moisture content at the end of the 63 day grow out period compared to the wood shavings. However, food pad lesions were seen in broilers reared on the pelleted blend of recycled newsprint and recycled OCC cardboard. Several more flocks will be reared on these used beddings.