Effect of different litter materials on growth performance, the gait score and footpad dermatitis, carcass parameters, meat quality, and microbial load of litter in broiler chickens.

In the current study, the microbial load of litter materials, growth performance, the gait score and footpad dermatitis, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of broilers reared on different litter materials were investigated. After hatching and sex determination, the chicks were allocated to 3 different experimental groups with each having 8 replications. The chicks were reared on thick sawdust, fine sawdust, or rice hull litter materials. A total of 480 chicks were used with each replicate having 20 chicks (10 males, 10 females) of similar body weight. At the end of the experiment, a total of 96 chickens were slaughtered, 32 from each group with equal number of males and females. The effect of the experimental groups on body weight, mortality, and carcass characteristics were not significant; however, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the treatments in all weeks except the first 2 wk of the experiment. Different litter materials significantly (P < 0.05) influenced the foot health of the chickens as well as the microbial load of the litter. There was no significant difference between the treatment groups in terms of pH, color, and cutting resistance of raw meat however, the water loss during the cooking of the meat and the TPA analysis results such as hardness, springiness, and chewiness of the cooked meats were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the type of litter material. It was concluded that the use of fine sawdust from trees such as pine and larch containing antimicrobial extracts would be more appropriate as a litter material in broiler production.

Biomechanical and microbiological changes in natural hog casings treated with ozone.

The objective of this study was to determine the biomechanical and microbiological effects of exposing natural hog casings to ozonated water ≈7mg/l for 0, 2 or 4h at 16°C. A total of 450 casing segments representing 10 hanks were used over five testing days and arranged in a randomized block split-plot design. For each treatment, pH, temperature, actual ozone concentration, bursting strength, maximum rupture force, and L(∗), a(∗) and b(∗) color space values were determined. The bursting strength and the maximum rupture force values suggested that casings can be treated by ozone up to 2h without deterioration. After ozone treatments, changes in L(∗), a(∗) and b(∗) color space values made the casings appear lighter than the control samples. Microbiological studies showed that 1 and 2h ozonation reduced counts of Escherichia coli biotype I, which expressed green fluorescent protein, by 0.4 and 0.6log(10)CFU/25.4cm casing, respectively.