Effect of aluminum sulfate on litter composition and ammonia emission in a single flock of broilers up to 42 days of age

Abstract

<jats:p>New alternatives are necessary if the environmental impact linked to intensive poultry production is to be reduced, and different litter handling methods should be explored. Among these, acidifying amendments added to poultry litters has been suggested as a management practice to help reduce the potential environmental effect involved in multiple flock cycles. There have been several studies on the use of aluminum sulfate (alum) and its benefits, but almost no data are available under farm conditions in Europe. An experiment with Ross 308 broilers from 1 to 42 days of age was conducted to evaluate the effect of alum on litter composition, the solubility of some mineral elements and NH<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>emission during a single flock-rearing period in commercial houses located in southeast Spain. Broilers were placed on clean wood shavings in four commercial houses, containing 20 000 broilers each. Before filling, alum was applied at a rate of 0.25 kg/m<jats:sup>2</jats:sup>to the wood shavings of two poultry houses, whereas the remaining two were used as control. Litter from each poultry house was sampled every 3 to 5 days. Ammonia emissions from the poultry houses were monitored from 37 to 42 days of age. In comparison with the control group, alum treatment significantly reduced the pH level of the litter (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.001) with an average difference of 1.32 ± 0.24 units. Alum-treated litter showed, on average, a higher electrical conductivity than the control litter (5.52<jats:italic>v.</jats:italic>3.63 dS/m). The dry matter (DM) and total N and P contents did not show differences between the treatments (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&gt; 0.05). Regarding the NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub><jats:sup>+</jats:sup>-N content, alum-treated litter showed a higher value than the untreated litter, with an average difference of 0.16 ± 0.07% (on a DM basis). On average, alum-treated litter had lower water-soluble P, Zn and Cu contents than the untreated litter. Alum noticeably reduced the in-house ammonia concentration (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.001), with an average of 4.8 ppm at 42 days of age (62.9% lower than the control), and ammonia emissions from 37 to 42 days of age were significantly reduced by the alum treatment (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>&lt; 0.001), representing a reduction of 73.3%. The lower pH values might have reduced ammonia volatilization from the litter, with a corresponding positive effect on the building environment and poultry health. For these reasons, litter amendment with alum could be recommended as a way of reducing the pollution potential of European broiler facilities during a single flock cycle.</jats:p>

Factors Affecting Arsenic and Copper Runoff from Fields Fertilized with Poultry Litter

“…Sims and Luka‐McCafferty (2002) reported that water‐soluble Cu concentrations were lower in alum‐treated litters than in unamended litters from control houses. Madrid et al (2012) also reported lower average water‐soluble Cu concentrations in alum‐treated poultry litter versus unamended litter. Thus, lower water‐soluble Cu concentrations in poultry litter due to alum amendment can result in reduced Cu concentrations in runoff.…”

Effect of Litter on Development and Severity of Foot-Pad Dermatitis and Behavior of Broiler Chickens

“…Such litter treatments might have a positive (decreasing) effect on FPD occurrence (Purswell et al, 2013). Alum-treated litter had no detrimental effect on the development of footpad and hock burns (Madrid et al, 2012) while other authors (Nagaraj et al, 2007) stated there was a trend of decreasing incidence and FPD severity when NaHSO 4 was used.…”

“…Litter amendments are often used in poultry production to reduce litter pH to control ammonia and as an intervention method in houses with a recurring disease issue such as gangrenous dermatitis (Shepherd et al, 2010). Results of other authors showed that litter treatments with chemical or microbiological products have positive effects on litter condition by lowering pH value (Madrid et al, 2012), reducing ammonia emission (Kim & Patterson, 2003;Iwaczuk-Czernik et al, 2007;Li et al, 2008;Madrid et al, 2012), or litter moisture (Iwaczuk-Czernik et al, 2007;Lazarevic et al, 2014). Such litter treatments might have a positive (decreasing) effect on FPD occurrence (Purswell et al, 2013).…”

“…Various litter amendments such as chemicals -aluminum sulfate (Madrid et al, 2012), sodium bisulfate (Nagaraj et al, 2007;Li et al, 2012), zeolite (Li etal., 2008), microbiological preparation (IwaczukCzernik et al, 2007), or a commercial ammonia binding agent (Lazarevic et al, 2014) are used to reduce litter moisture, pH and NH 3 emission in broiler houses. Some authors documented that such litter treatments might have positive effects on the occurrence of FPD (Nagaraj et al, 2007).…”

Isolation of Mannheimia haemolytica from Layer Hens Showing Respiratory Signs

“…Isolation of microorganisms from non-natural hosts has been reported for different pathogens (Moyaert et al, 2007;Aubin et al, 2013;Perez et al, 2014) and this could be an evolutionary strategy that confers a survival advantage to a microorganism or the possibility of infecting new, susceptible hosts. Furthermore, immunosuppressive effects of mycotoxins, wet litter and ammonia can increase the risk of infectious diseases by damaging anatomical barriers of respiratory system (Nimmermark et al, 2009;Madrid et al, 2012;Umar et al, 2015). Bacterial infections have primarily been controlled with antibiotics and the use of antibiotics containing growth promoters kept the burden of such bacterial infections under control for many years.…”