Evaluation of a cellulose-based industrial wastewater byproduct as broiler bedding

The increased cost and decreased availability of pine shavings-the traditional poultry bedding material-has facilitated the need to identify alternative bedding materials for poultry growers. The objective of this study was to evaluate mixtures of pine shavings and an industrial wastewater cellulose byproduct based on broiler performance, paw quality, litter bulk density, moisture, and pH over a 6-week flock grow-out period. The experimental design consisted of 25 pens (40 ft(2) or 3.7 m(2) each) containing 55 Cobb broilers (0.75 ft(2) or 0.07 m(2)/bird) for a total of 1,375 birds. Five treatments of 3-inch (8 cm) depth bedding consisting of 0 (control with 100% pine shavings), 25, 50, 75 and 100% cellulose byproduct with 5 replications were tested. Results showed that the cellulose byproduct material performed comparatively to pine shavings in terms of the broiler performance parameters of body weight gain, feed efficiency, and mortality. Paw quality was improved during the early stages of growth on the cellulose byproduct material, but the improvement was not significant by the end of the grow-out period. An evaluation of litter moisture versus paw quality scores produced a correlation coefficient of 0.73, indicating a strong cause-and-effect relationship between increasing litter moisture and decreasing paw quality. Litter characteristics of bulk density, compaction, pH, and ammonia generation were not significantly different between the cellulose byproduct material and pine shavings by the end of the 6-week study. An economic analysis of the use of the cellulose byproduct material is still needed due to the reduction in initial moisture content that was required for the cellulose byproduct material prior to use as broiler bedding.