Evaluation of Chopped Switchgrass as a Litter Material
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3923/ijps.2010.39.42Keywords:
Alternative litter, broiler, chopped grassAbstract
An alternative broiler litter to pine shavings may be switchgrass, a high yielding forage crop (8-12 tons per acre) that can grow across the Southeastern U.S. A study was conducted to determine the efficacy of chopped switchgrass as a litter material for broiler chickens. Pine Shavings (PS) and Switchgrass (SG) were used as litter treatments with 10 replications each. Body weight, body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion, carcass weights and mortality were not different between treatments. However, the incidence of foot pad dermatitis was significantly decreased with SG litter. Live performance and carcass weights were not affected by using chopped SG as a litter material when rearing broilers over a short duration (one flock cycle).
References
Bilgili, S.F., G.I. Montenegro, J.B. Hess and M.K. Eckman, 1999. Sand as litter for rearing broiler chickens. J. Applied Poult. Res., 8: 345-351.
Bilgili, S.F., J.B. Hess, J.P. Blake, K.S. Macklin, B. Saenmahayak and J.L. Sibley, 2009. Influence of bedding material on footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens. J. Applied Poult. Res., 18: 583-589.
Brake, J.D., C.R. Boyle, T.N. Chamblee, C.D. Schultz and E.D. Peebles, 1992. Evaluation of the chemical and physical properties of hardwood bard used as a broiler litter material. Poult. Sci., 71: 467-472.
Brake, J.D., M.J. Fuller, C.R. Boyle, D.E. Link, E.D. Peebles and M.A. Latour, 1993. Evaluations of whole chopped kenaf and kenaf core use as a broiler litter material. Poult. Sci., 72: 2079-2083.
Burke, G.B., A.J. Pescatore, A.H. Cantor, M.L. Straw, H. Xianbai and T.H. Johnson, 1993. Newspaper as litter material and its effects on the performance of broilers. J. Applied Poult. Res., 2: 154-158.
Carter, T.A., R.C. Allison, W.C. Mills and J.R. West, 1979. Wood chips for poultry litter. Poult. Sci., 58: 994-997.
Chamblee, T.N. and J.B. Yeatman, 2003. Evaluation of rice hull ash as broiler litter. J. Applied Poult. Res., 12: 424-427.
Chaloupka, G.W., R.W. Loyd, J.F. Gordy and L.M. Greene, 1967. Evaluation of litter materials for broiler production. Poult. Sci., 46: 1242-1242.
Grimes, J.L., T.A. Carter, A.E. Gernat and J.L. Godwin, 2007. A novel bedding material made from cotton waste, gypsum and old newsprint for rearing Turkeys. J. Applied Poult. Res., 16: 598-604.
Grimes, J.L., J. Smithi and C.M. Williams, 2002. Some alternative litter materials used for growing broilers and turkeys. World's Poult. Sci. J., 58: 515-526.
Lien, R.J., D.E. Conner and S.F. Bilgili, 1992. The use of recycled paper chips as litter material for rearing broiler chickens. Poult. Sci., 71: 81-87.
Lien, R.J., J.B. Hess, D.E. Conner, C.W. Wood and R.A. Shelby, 1998. Peanut hulls as a litter source for broiler breeder replacement pullets. Poult. Sci., 77: 41-46.
Malone, G.W., P.H. Allen, G.W. Chaloupka and W.F. Ritter, 1982. Recycled paper products as broiler litter. Poult. Sci., 61: 2161-2165.
Malone, G.W., G.W. Chaloupka and R.J. Eckroade, 1983. Composted municipal garbage for broiler litter. Poult. Sci., 62: 414-418.
Malone, G.W. and N. Gedamu, 1995. Pelleted newspaper as a broiler litter material. J. Applied Poult. Res., 4: 49-54.
Malone, G.W., H.D. Tilmon and R.W. Taylor, 1990. Evaluation of kenaf core for broiler litter. Poult. Sci., 69: 2064-2067.
Martinez, D.F. and A.G. Gernat, 1995. The effect of chopped computer and bond paper mixed with wood shavings as a litter material on broiler performance. Poult. Sci., 74: 1395-1399.
NRC., 1994. Nutrient Requirements of Poultry. 9th Edn., National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Ott, R.L. and M.T. Longnecker, 2009. An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis. Duxbury Press, Belmont, California.
Parsons, A.H. and S.L. Baker, 1985. Softwood chipping fines: Efficacy as poultry litter. Poult. Sci., 64: 2292-2295.
SAS., 2004. SAS User's Guide Statistics. Version 9.1, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC., USA.
Smith, J.C., 2002. Chopped Bermuda Grass Hay as an Alternative Bedding Material for Rearing Market Turkey Hens. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
Torok, V.A., R.J. Hughes, K. Ophel-Keller, M. Ali and R. MacAlpine, 2009. Influence of different litter materials on cecal microbiota colonization in broiler chickens. Poult. Sci., 88: 2474-2481.
Veltmann, J.R., F.A. Gardener and S.S. Linton, 1984. Comparison of rice hull products as litter material and dietary fat levels on Turkey poult performance. Poult. Sci., 63: 2345-2351.
Willis, W.L., C. Murray and C. Talbott, 1997. Evaluation of leaves as a litter material. Poult. Sci., 76: 1138-1140.
Malone, G.W., 1992. Evaluation of litter materials other than wood shavings. Proceedings of the National Poultry Waste Management Symposium, (NPWMS'92), National Poultry Waste Management Symposium Committee, Auburn, AL., pp: 274-284.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
