Study of the Possibility Rearing of Replacement Young Turkeys on Regenerated Litter

Abstract

One of the problems of modern poultry farming is the shortage of litter materials. In this regard, the practice of litter regeneration and its repeated use is becoming more and more widespread. Regenerated litterwith proper disinfection is safe for the bird and does not negatively affect its growth index as evidenced by research on broiler chickens. At the same time, it has not been studied enough the possibility of using regenerated litter in the rearing and housing of other species and production groups of poultry with a technological cycle much longer than that of broiler chickens. Based on this, the goal of our research was to evaluate the microclimate in the poultry house, welfare and zootechnical indicators replacement young turkeyswhen reared on regenerated litter. There were formed two groups of turkey poults (females) of line 5 of the domestic cross Kharkiv, each with 150 heads in each group, one of which from 6 to 20 weeks of age was grown on a new litter (pine shavings), the other (experimental) on regenerated litter based on the same material. Litter regeneration was performed according to the previously developed technology. The remaining conditions for growing turkey poults of both groups met the regulatory requirements and were similar. It was established that from the 6th to the 12th week of rearing the moisture content of regenerated litter was 11.3-6.6% higher than of new litter (p<0.05). However, during further rearing, the difference in their moisture content became insignificant. At the end of the rearing period, the general condition of the litter in both variantshad no significant differences according to the criteria of moisture, flowability, and clumping. Rearing young turkeys on regenerated litter there was observed an increase of 5.8-1.1 times (p<0.05) in the content of ammonia and 1.5-1.1 times (p<0.05) of carbon dioxide in the air of the house,compared to growing them on new litter. At the same time, their total concentration in the air did not exceed the maximum permissible during any of the rearing periods. Growing young turkeys on regenerated litter did not negatively affect the state of plumage, soles of paws and knee joints of young turkey, as well as their zootechnical indicators.