Effect of sand, wheat straw and dried grass as bedding materials on growth performance and final weight of broilers
- Author
- Juru, O. T.
- Title
- Effect of sand, wheat straw and dried grass as bedding materials on growth performance and final weight of broilers
- Abstract
- The study focused on the evaluation of three different broiler bedding materials in order to assess their effect on growth and final weights of birds. Most broiler farmers in Zimbabwe produce broilers under deep litter system and this is resulting in broiler diseases and high cost of treatment drugs. This is caused by inadequate bedding material in the broiler house and use of unsuitable bedding material. Such diseases include foot rot, water belly and respiratory related diseases. Most small-scale farmers are also experiencing low final broiler weights even after prolonged 6 weeks period of broiler production. There is little knowledge available for farmers on the effects of different bedding materials used in broiler production. The study assessed the weekly feed intake, weight gain and mortality of 90 broilers which were randomly assigned to three treatments, which were wheat straw bedding, (treatment 1), dried grass bedding, (treatment 2) and sand bedding (treatment 3) and each of the treatment was assigned 30 broilers. The study revealed that the broilers which were subjected to wheat straw bedding resulted in high intake, weight gain and final weights followed by those which were housed in dried grass bedding and the least being those in sand. In conclusion, it was noted that there was no a significant difference in intake, weekly weight gain and final weight of broilers, reared under wheat straw and dried grass as bedding in broiler house though a significant difference was noted on chickens in sand bedding. The study recommended that wheat straw and dried grass can be used as bedding material when rearing broilers from day old up to six weeks as well as further study on frequency of change of bedding in broiler houses
- Date
- OCTOBER 2025
- Publisher
- BUSE
- Keywords
- bedding materials
- broiler houses
- growth
- Supervisor
- N/A
- Item sets
- Department of Animal Sciences
