Effects of Salvinia as a broiler litter material on growth performance, behavior, welfare parameters, litter characters, and ammonia emission.

The type of litter material has direct impacts on production, behavioral, and welfare parameters of broilers. The price of conventionally-used litter materials is increasing. Salvinia molesta is a fast-growing aquatic plant which has become an environmental issue in some areas. This study assessed the suitability of air-dried Salvinia plants (SAL) as an alternate litter material to paddy husk (PH). Resulting in a completely randomized experiment, a total of 240 broilers was raised in 12 floor-pens each provided with either PH or SAL as litter materials, from 11 to 36 d. Scan sampling technique was employed to record the birds' engagement in 15 predetermined behaviors. Foot pad dermatitis (FPD), hock burn damage (HBD) and plumage cleanliness (PC) were assessed using Welfare Quality Scoring System. Litter samples were analyzed for pH, dry matter%, water holding capacity, porosity, N%, tapped-density and ammonia emission rate. The litter material had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on mortality, growth performance parameters, dressing % and visceral organ weight. The scores for FPD and PC were unaffected by the litter materials. SAL litter reported significantly lower (P < 0.05) HBD scores. The percentages of birds engaged in eating and wing flapping behaviors were significantly lower on SAL. Litter type had no significant influence on the color, aroma, flavor, texture and overall acceptability of breast meat. Air-dried Salvinia plants reported acidic pH. SAL litter gave a significantly higher tapped-density. Ammonia emission rate of SAL litter was significantly lower than that of PH. However, the final litter N content was higher for PH (3.7%) than SAL (3.2%). The study proposes air-dried Salvinia plants as a litter material for broilers since it gives growth performance comparable to PH with reduced hock burn damage incidences. Effects of SAL on behavior and the fertilizer value of the spent litter are to be studied further.