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RECYCLED PAPER MAY LINE ALABAMA POULTRY HOUSES
AUBURN, Ala.__--Don't throw that newspaper away! Research at Auburn
University indicates Alabama's billion dollar a year poultry industry
may need your recycled paper to replace traditional broiler house floor
covering material.
Baby chicks love a soft matting of pine shavings on the floor of their
poultry house. It reduces bone and joint problems abnormalities and
makes them less susceptible to a host of production problems. The problem
is, in Alabama, we have too many chicks and not enough pine shavings.
Every week poultrymen place about 18 million chicks in broiler houses
in the state. In the past, pine shavings have been inexpensive and plentiful,
but increased demand by the growing of the poultry industry, plus alternative
uses for pine shavings, have caused prices to go up and the supply to
come down.
Researchers at the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Auburn
University recently tested a new type of chip made from recycled newsprint
that may offset some of the shortfall in pine shavings. These ultra
absorbent recycled paper chips were developed by Advanced Material Technology
(AMT) Inc., in Ashville.
Paper litter materials previously tested contained a higher moisture
content and had a tendency to cake. They also caused leg and foot abnormalities
and breast blisters as the chicks grew into market-size broilers. However,
in tests at the Experiment Station, chicks performed as well or better
on the new AMT paper chips as they did on pine shavings.
"This new paper litter material is formed by completely reprocessing
waste paper into chips. These chips average about 1.6 inches long, one-fourth-inch
wide and one-tenth-inch thick," according to Roger Lien, an assistant
professor of poultry science at Auburn.
Lien and fellow Auburn researchers Don Conner and Sacit Bilgili conducted
two tests with the AMT chips, using 600 broilers in each study. These
birds were placed in houses as day old chicks and grown to maturity
in 50 and 51 days.
"As we expected, moisture increased more rapidly in the paper litter
and was higher when we compared it to pine shaving after three weeks.
However, by seven weeks we saw little difference in moisture between
the two litter materials," Lien pointed out.
He went on to explain that there was little difference in body weight,
feed conversion, or bird mortality between the two litter materials.
Likewise, the Auburn researchers did not find any significant difference
in breast blisters or leg and foot abnormalities. Foot and leg abnormalities
prevent birds from reaching adequate feed and water, resulting in slower
growth and occasionally death.
The AMT chips had lower yeast and mold populations than pine shavings.
"Though we didn't observe any adverse effects of the higher yeast
and mold counts, some of these organisms are pathogenic and/or produce
toxins which are detrimental to the liveability and performance of broilers.
Thus, this may be a concern of producers," according to Conner.
Whether recycled paper chips become as popular as pine shavings as poultry
house litter material remains to be seen, but the Auburn researchers
are optimistic. "We are concerned about the higher moisture content
early in the growing period and the greater caking tendency of the paper
litter. We need larger scale trials to determine how these things will
affect production on an industry scale. But, the paper chips look promising
as an alternative to pine shavings in broiler houses," Lien concluded.
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By:
Roy Roberson
9/19/91
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