The effect of a biological litter treatment on Salmonella sp. prevalence in turkey breeder flock litter

A study was conducted to determine the effects of MicroTreat “P”, a biological litter treatment on the prevalence of Salmonella of litter in turkey breeder flocks. A flock of breeder hens were moved from a brooder barn at five weeks of age and divided into two grower barns. One barn was used as a control barn with no biological litter treatment applied, while the second barn was treated with a biological litter treatment. At twenty-eight weeks of age hens from the control grower barn were moved into two layer control barns, and hens from the treated grower were moved into two treated layer barns. In both facilities, the litter treatment was reapplied to the treated barns every ten weeks. Monthly drag swabs were collected and used to determine the presence of Salmonella in each barn. In the grower barn, the initial Salmonella drag swab samples for both the treated and control barns were negative. In the control barns, the number of positive Salmonella samples rose to 60% by the second sampling, and to 80% by the third sampling, where they remained until the birds were moved out of the grower barns. During the same time period, Salmonella remained at an undetectable level in the treated barn. In the initial drag swab samples from the layer barns, only one sample was positive for Salmonella in the treated barns compared with three positive samples from the control barns. By the eleventh week in the layer barns, 40% of the samples tested positive for Salmonella in the control barns, while Salmonella was at an undetectable level in the treated barns. MicroTreat “P” was shown to be effective in controlling the proliferation of Salmonella populations present in litter from turkey breeder flocks.