Efficacy of a litter amendment to reduce pododermatitis in broiler chickens

By M. Nagaraj, C. Wilson, B. Saenmahayak, J. Hess, S. F. Bilgili. 2007

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Abstract Broiler house environment, especially volatile NH3 content, has a significant effect on pododermatitis in chickens. The efficacy of NaHSO4 in reducing pododermatitis in broiler chickens was investigated in this study. A total of 960 straight-run 1-d-old chicks were randomly assigned to 16 environmental chambers with 4 different levels of NaHSO4 (4 chambers/treatment). The treatments (TRT) comprised of TRT 1 (control), TRT 2 with NaHSO4 applied at 1 × rate (0.22 kg/m2) on the day of placement of chicks, TRT 3 with NaHSO4 applied at 2 × rate on the day of placement of chicks, and TRT 4 with NaHSO4 applied at 1 × rate on the day of placement of chicks and at 1 × rate on 21 d. Birds were raised to 49 d of age on a 4-stage feeding program with diets formulated to contain high protein levels and all-vegetable ingredients. At 35 d of age, the litter was moistened artificially to see the effect of NaHSO4 on NH3 volatilization. In addition to assessing live performance, feet were scored on 42 and 49 d of age for incidence and severity of pododermatitis. Ammonia concentration (ppm) in the chambers was measured before placement of chicks and on a weekly basis throughout the experiment. No differences in live performance of the birds were observed throughout the study (P > 0.05). Sex had significant effects on incidence of pododermatitis (P 0.05), using NaHSO4 as a litter amendment numerically reduced the incidence of pododermatitis by 10 or more percentage points.

Subfields: Animal Science and Zoology, Parasitology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/da4262a063664387a99fb1e6268e65e2c1ff4fa2