Use of four types of litter for rearing broilers

1. One hundred and forty four Shaver broiler chicks (Starbro 15) were reared from 4 d to 56 d of age on 4 types of litter: sawdust, paddy straw, sand and rice husk each spread to a depth of 75 mm.

2. Birds reared on rice husk litter showed the greatest food consumption, greatest weight gain, best food conversion efficiency and scored highest in production number.

3. Survivability was also highest with rice husk group (94.4%) but differences in this variable were not thought to be attributable to types of litter.

4. Breast blisters were found only in birds reared on sand (8.3%).

5. It was concluded that rice husk is a suitable litter for rearing broilers on the floor, particularly in paddy‐growing countries.     

Effect of different types of litter material for rearing broilers

1. Coir dust was evaluated as broiler litter in comparison with sawdust and rice husk using 135 commercial broilers. Forty-five broiler chicks were reared to 42 d on a 50 mm layer of each of these litters. 2. Birds reared on coir dust showed no difference in food consumption, body weight gain, food conversion efficiency production number and survivability in comparison to those reared on saw dust and rice husk. 3. It was concluded that coir dust is suitable as broiler litter when cheaply available.     

Microflora of two different types of poultry litter

1. The microbiological composition of litter (straw and wood shavings) was sampled, prior to placing 1-d-old chicks, during housing of the birds and after depopulation. Two independent trials were conducted. 2. The total aerobic plate count (APC) was determined and the predominant microflora of the samples was identified using flow charts. 3. Before chick placement, the APC of wood shavings (about 4.0 log/g) was lower than the APC of straw (about log 7.5/g). With stocking, in both types of litter the APC increased to about log 9.76/g straw-litter and log 9.89/g wood shavings, respectively. After depopulation, the APC remained high (> log 9 in both types of litter) within the period of observation. 4. From both experiments, 1981 isolates were collected and identified, most of them were Gram-positive. During stocking the birds, the number of Gram-positive isolates (in particular Gram-positive irregular rods and Micrococcaceae) increased; after depopulation it stayed at that high value, whereas the number of Gram-negative isolates remained low. In both types of litter the isolates were obtained in a comparable proportion.     

Comparison of rabbit breed types for postweaning litter growth, feed efficiency, and survival performance traits

Postweaning data on 643 rabbits from 122 litters representing four breed types, New Zealand White (NZW) and Californian (CAL) purebreds, CAL X NZW (CXN), and Flemish Giant (FG) crossbreds (the latter group was a collection of FG X CAL, FG X Champagne D'Argent [CHA], and 1/2 FG X 1/4 CAL X 1/4 CHA), were gathered over five seasons and compared for growth, feed efficiency, and survival-related performance traits. Evaluation criteria included litter size and weight at weaning (28 d); 28- to 70-d litter feed intake, weight gain, feed efficiency, and mortality rate; and litter and average market weight (70 d). The least squares model included main effects of breed type, season of birth of the litter and parity of dam, litter size at weaning as a linear covariate, and the random error. Breed-type differences were not detected for litter size and weight at weaning and feed efficiency. Purebred NZW and CAL litter trait performances were comparable (P greater than .05). Purebred NZW litters consumed less feed than CXN and FG crosses, gained weight less rapidly than FG crosses, and weighed less per fryer at 70 d than CXN and FG crosses (P less than .05). Feed intake was lower and average market weight was lighter for CAL purebred litters than for CXN and FG crossbred litters (P less than .05). The CXN and FG crossbreds only differed (P less than .05) for average market weight (2,078 vs 2,192 g). Mortality rate was lower (P less than .05) in CXN crossbred litters than in CAL purebred litters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Impact of fresh or used litter on the posthatch immune system of commercial broilers

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of exposure of growing broiler chickens of commercial origin to used poultry litter on intestinal and systemic immune responses. The litter types evaluated were fresh wood shavings or used litter obtained from commercial poultry farms with or without a history of gangrenous dermatitis (GD). Immune parameters measured were serum nitric oxide (NO) levels, serum antibody titers against Eimeria or Clostridium perfringens, mitogen-induced spleen cell proliferation, and intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte or splenic lymphocyte subpopulations. At 43 days posthatch, birds raised on used litter from a GD farm had higher serum NO levels and greater Eimeria or C. perfringens antibody levels compared with chickens raised on fresh litter or used, non-GD litter. Birds raised on non-GD and GD used litter had greater spleen cell mitogenic responses compared with chickens raised on fresh litter. Finally, spleen and intestinal lymphocyte subpopulations were increased or decreased depending on the litter type and the surface marker analyzed. Although it is likely that the presence of Eimeria oocysts and endemic viruses varies qualitatively and quantitatively between flocks and, by extension, varies between different used litter types, we believe that these data provide evidence that exposure of growing chicks to used poultry litter stimulates humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, presumably due to contact with contaminating enteric pathogens.     

Electronic brachytherapy used for the successful treatment of three different types of equine tumours

An electronic form of interstitial brachytherapy was used to treat tumours on 3 different horses. One horse was treated for an ocular lymphoma, the second for a sarcoid, and the third for melanoma. This form of brachytherapy contains inherent advantages over previously used forms of brachytherapy and provides another treatment option for equine tumours that cannot be treated with, or do not respond to, conventional tumour therapies.     

Expression of podoplanin in various types of feline tumor tissues

Podoplanin is expressed in various human tumors where it promotes tumor progression, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and distant metastasis. Podoplanin is also expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts and induces tumor malignancy. The objective of this study was to evaluate podoplanin expression in various types of feline tumor tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that podoplanin was expressed in cells of 13/15 (87%) squamous cell carcinomas and 5/19 (26%) fibrosarcomas. Moreover, cancer-associated fibroblasts expressed podoplanin in most tumor types, including 18/21 (86%) mammary adenocarcinoma tissues. Our findings demonstrate that various types of feline tumor tissues expressed podoplanin, indicating the importance of the comparative aspects of podoplanin expression, which may be used as a novel research model for podoplanin biology.