A study on the performance of broiler reared under different litter materials

Abstract

Poultry products are viewed as fundamental food items providing animal protein at a relatively low cost in Sri Lanka. The demand for chicken meat and eggs in the country is satisfied through local supply. Kandy district is an area where poultry farms are run on a large and small scale. Among them Karandagolla poultry breeder farm is more contributes to poultry production. On the other hand, if farm conditions are more acceptable can be reached good poultry performances and production. So, in poultry houses litter is used to keep the birds comfortable, absorb moisture, remove droppings, and keep the floor dry enough to provide some insulation underfoot and it also provides the birds with a suitable environment for feeding watering and other maintenance. The objectives of the study is to evaluate the performance of Cobb 500 broiler parent reared under different litter materials and determine a suitable litter material for Cobb 500 broiler production. The finding of this study could be useful in choosing the best litter with more performance. The study used four treatments as different litter materials (wood shavings, rice husk, sand, and chopped straw) with two replications in each treatment sample. The study found that the most suitable litter material among the four types (wood shavings, Rice husk, sand, chopped straw) was rice husk. This study can be extended to include the economic aspects of the materials in the future.