Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Wamsley, Kelley, G. S.

Committee Member

Linhoss, John

Committee Member

Sukumaran, Anuraj, T.

Committee Member

Wells, Jessica, B.

Committee Member

Tabler, Tom

Date of Degree

12-9-2022

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agriculture

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Poultry Science

Abstract

Poultry litter amendments (LA) are commonly used to maintain good litter quality; the most common ones; are acidifiers. However, concern over the lifespan of LA acidifiers (d) and corrosive nature revealed a need for alternative LA. Products of interest include biochar (BC), superabsorbent polymers (SAPs), and alum mud (AM). Experiment 1 was a screening study (n=17 treatments, no birds) conducted to determine the optimal application rate/method of BC, SAPs, and AM vs.commercial LA and a control. Most SAPs treatments measured metrics may be similar (i.e., bacteria, water activity) or better (pH) vs. commercial LA (PLT). High inclusions of novel LA elicited the most litter quality benefit; therefore, were chosen for experiment 2 to determine their effects on 60 d litter quality and broiler performance and processing. Overall, novel LA improved litter quality parameters (i.e., moisture content, pH water activity) without negatively affecting live performance and processing parameters vs. control

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