Characterization and analysis of two types of reused broiler litter

The objective of this work was to characterize two different types of broiler litter material (coffee husks and wood shavings) that are commonly used in the Brazilian poultry industry within the State of Minas Gerais, and to evaluate the effect of their reuse on flock performance and physical and sanitary qualities of the litter. A second objective was to determine if the optimal number of reuses, based a sanitary point of view, matches that used for litter field composting, according to the results obtained by Marín (2011). The study was conducted with litter from 32 different broiler houses. Variables measured included litter moisture content, pH level, the incidence of foot pad dermatitis in birds, the sanitary quality through assessments to identify the bacteria Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., and productive performance of birds. The number of reuses of the poultry litter, for both types of substrate, did not affect either the productive performance of the birds or the physical properties of the bedding. Regarding the sanitary quality of the bedding, the probability the occurrence of Salmonella spp in coffee husks litter (17,06%) decreased by 28.6 percentage points compared to the with wood shavings litter (45,66%). No differences were found between different numbers of reuses of either litter material, regarding the sanitary quality of the bedding. With respect to E. coli, higher concentrations were found in the wood shavings litter in all flocks; and for the coffee husks litter, the best time to proceed with the removal of the litter from the barn for composting is the end of the second flock, and that for subsequent flocks high levels of growth and development of E. coli were observed.