Use of a litter material made from cotton waste, gypsum, and old newsprint for rearing broiler chickens.

Three experiments, which included 4 broiler flocks, were conducted to examine the usefulness of a novel bedding material for rearing broilers. The control bedding was pine shavings. The novel bedding, aGroChips (AC), was a chopped material made from cotton lint waste, gypsum, and old newsprint using a proprietary paper manufacturing process (Novovita, Inc., Raleigh, NC). All birds were fed the same feeding program: starter from 0 to 3 wk, grower from 3 to 5 or 6 wk, and finisher during the last week. Birds were marketed at either 6 or 7 wk of age. Feed consumption by pen and individual bird BW were measured at 3 and 6 or 7 wk. Mean BW and feed conversion, adjusted to include weight of mortality, were calculated. A sample of birds (n = 10) from each pen was evaluated for hock and foot pad condition. Each pen was evaluated at the end of the trial for litter cake index in 3 of the 4 flocks. Litter cake index scores were generally higher for birds reared on AC litters. There were no other differences in bird performance for any of the flocks. In conclusion, broilers reared on AC bedding perform as well as those reared on pine shavings.

Effect of dietary phosphorus and phytase levels on the reproductive performance of large white turkey breeder hens.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of dietary P levels and dietary phytase enzyme (E) inclusion on Large White turkey breeder hen reproductive performance from 31 to 62 wk of age. Hens were placed in a curtain-sided house with 48 pens (10 birds per pen; 8 pens per treatment) at 31 wk and were fed a breeder ration with treatments as follows: HP, dietary available P = 0.55%; HPE, HP + E; MP, dietary available P = 0.35%; MPE, MP + E; LP, dietary available P = 0.17%; and LPE, LP + E. Feed and water were available ad libitum for 28 wk of lay. Diets were fed in mash form, and all other nutrients were formulated to meet or exceed NRC requirements. All hens were photostimulated in January (31 wk) with 15.5 h of light daily. Production data were recorded on a pen basis. Individual bird BW and feed consumption, by pen, were determined at monthly intervals from 31 to 62 wk. Hens were observed for weekly reproductive performance for hen housed egg production, hen-day egg production, settable eggs, cumulative settable eggs, hens out of lay, and hen mortality and for biweekly performance for egg fertility, hatchability of all eggs, hatchability of fertile eggs, egg weight loss, conductance, conductance constant (k), and embryonic mortality. Egg weight, eggshell thickness, egg components, and albumen and yolk P were measured monthly. At 62 wk of age, hen tibia P, plasma P, total fecal P, and water-soluble fecal P were determined. Decreasing dietary P resulted in no decreases in reproductive performance for turkey breeder hens to 62 wk. Additionally, decreased dietary P resulted in decreased total fecal P and water-soluble fecal P. Feeding turkey breeder hens dietary phytase enzyme resulted in significantly fewer hens going out of lay; however, this was not reflected in hen housed egg production. It was concluded that phosphorus could be lowered in turkey breeder hen diets, compared with current surveyed industry levels, without impairing reproductive performance.