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Bedding material or litter is an important requirement of meat chicken production which can influence bird welfare, health, and food safety. A substantial increase in demand and cost of chicken bedding has stimulated interest in alternative bedding sources worldwide. However, risks arising from the use of alternative bedding materials for raising meat chickens are currently unknown. Organic chemicals, elemental, and biological contaminants, as well as physical and management hazards need to be managed in litter to protect the health of chickens and consequently that of human consumers. This requires access to information on the transfer of contaminants from litter to food to inform risk profiles and assessments to guide litter risk management. In this review, contaminants and hazards of known and potential concern in alternative bedding are described and compared with existing standards for feed. The contaminants considered in this review include organic chemical contaminants (e.g., pesticides), elemental contaminants (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, and lead), biological contaminants (phytotoxins, mycotoxins, and microorganisms), physical hazards, and management hazards. Reference is made to scientific literature for acceptable levels of the above contaminants in chicken feed that can be used for guidance by those involved in selecting and using bedding materials.

Poultry house dust is composed of fine particles which likely originate from a diverse range of materials such as feed, litter, excreta, and feathers. Little is known about the contribution of these sources to broiler house airborne dust so the present study was designed to identify the relative contributions of these sources. Samples of feed, excreta, feather, and bedding, known mixtures of these and settled dust from 28 broiler chicken flocks were tested for the concentration of 18 chemical elements. A chemometrics approach (the application of multivariate statistical techniques to chemical analysis data) was used to identify the primary source material in broiler chicken house dust samples. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was also used to analyze dust sample particulates based on examination of source materials. Excreta was found to be the main component of broiler chicken house dust, both by SEM and chemometric analysis. SEM of experimental flock dust between 7 and 35 days of age (d) revealed that the contribution of excreta to dust increased with age from 60% at 7 d to 95% at 28 d (P < 0.001). The proportion of bedding and feed in dust declined with age while the contribution of feather material remained low throughout. This study demonstrates that excreta provides the bulk of the material in poultry dust samples with bedding material, feed and feather material providing lower proportions. The relative contributions of these materials to dust varies with age of birds at dust collection. Additional research is required to determine the health and diagnostic implications of this variation.

Broiler chickens are commonly placed on wood shavings as litter, but alternative litter sources are required due to the scarcity of wood shavings in many parts of the world. This study aimed to compare pelleted straw, chopped wheat straw, wood shavings, rice hulls, and shredded paper as litter candidates. Three-hundred-sixty Ross 308 one-day-old male chicks were used in this study. There were 5 litter treatments with 6 replicate pens, each with 12 birds. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of birds reared on pelleted straw was improved compared (P

Three experiments, which included 4 broiler flocks, were conducted to examine the usefulness of a novel bedding material for rearing broilers. The control bedding was pine shavings. The novel bedding, aGroChips (AC), was a chopped material made from cotton lint waste, gypsum, and old newsprint using a proprietary paper manufacturing process (Novovita, Inc., Raleigh, NC). All birds were fed the same feeding program: starter from 0 to 3 wk, grower from 3 to 5 or 6 wk, and finisher during the last week. Birds were marketed at either 6 or 7 wk of age. Feed consumption by pen and individual bird BW were measured at 3 and 6 or 7 wk. Mean BW and feed conversion, adjusted to include weight of mortality, were calculated. A sample of birds (n = 10) from each pen was evaluated for hock and foot pad condition. Each pen was evaluated at the end of the trial for litter cake index in 3 of the 4 flocks. Litter cake index scores were generally higher for birds reared on AC litters. There were no other differences in bird performance for any of the flocks. In conclusion, broilers reared on AC bedding perform as well as those reared on pine shavings.

Negative impacts on the environment, bird well-being, and farm worker health indicate the need for abatement strategies for poultry litter NH(3) generation. Type of bedding affects many parameters related to poultry production including NH(3) losses. In a randomized complete block design, 3 trials compared the cumulative NH(3) volatilization for laboratory-prepared litter (4 bedding types mixed with excreta) and commercial litter (sampled from a broiler house during the second flock on reused pine wood chips). Litters were assessed at the original moisture content and 2 higher moisture contents. Broiler excrement was mixed with pine wood shavings, rice hulls, sand, and vermiculite to create litter samples. Volumetrically uniform litter samples were placed in chambers receiving humidified air where the exhaust passed through H(3)BO(3) solution, trapping litter-emitted NH(3). At the original moisture content, sand and vermiculite litters generated the most NH(3) (5.3 and 9.1 mg of N, respectively) whereas wood shavings, commercial, and rice hull litters emitted the least NH(3) (0.9-2.6 mg of N). For reducing NH(3) emissions, the results support recommendations for using wood shavings and rice hulls, already popular bedding choices in the United States and worldwide. In this research, the organic bedding materials generated the least NH(3) at the original moisture content when compared with the inorganic materials. For each bedding type, incremental increases in litter moisture content increased NH(3) volatilization. However, the effects of bedding material on NH(3) volatilization at the increased moisture levels were not clearly differentiated across the treatments. Vermiculite generated the most NH(3) (26.3 mg of N) at the highest moisture content. Vermiculite was a novel bedding choice that has a high water absorption capacity, but because of high NH(3) generation, it is not recommended for further study as broiler bedding material. Controlling unnecessary moisture inputs to broiler litter is a key to controlling NH(3) emissions.

A study was conducted to evaluate the utilization of refined gypsum (recycled sheetrock) as a litter material on the growth performance and mortality of broiler chicks grown to market age. Broilers were placed in pens with either 13 cm fir wood shavings, 13 cm refined gypsum, or 9 cm refined gypsum topped with 4 cm fir shavings, and grown to 41 days of age. Litter material had no significant influence on chick mortality, feed conversion, condemnations, and incidences of leg abnormalities. Body weight gain was significantly lower for chicks reared on refined gypsum compared with the other litter treatments at 21 days of age, but by Day 41 no differences were observed between litter treatments. Percentage litter moisture of refined gypsum was significantly lower than either wood shaving treatments at both 21 and 41 days, although on a weight basis, the gypsum contained equal or more water. Litter material had no influence on room or brooding temperatures. Although it is quite dusty initially when placed in the house, refined gypsum may be an alternative bedding material to be utilized as a base and top-dressed with wood shavings.