INFLUENCE OF STOCKING DENSITIES ON LITTER MOISTURE, MICROBIAL LOAD, AIR AMMONIA CONCENTRATION AND BROILER PERFORMANCE

A trial was conducted using 240 numbers of day old commercial straight run broiler chicks (vencobb-100).These chicks were wing banded, weighed and randomly allotted to 12 groups of 20 each, each treatment group were assigned with three replicates with the following densities of 900, 750, 600 and 450 cm 2 per bird from 0 to 42 days of rearing period. Biweekly body weight of individual birds and weight gain recorded at 14, 28 and 42 days of age to an accuracy of one gram using a standard weighing balance. Litter quality was assessed in terms of litter moisture content, total bacterial, coliform and mould count. The significant improvement in performance has been brought about by significantly lower litter moisture and microbial load,(total bacterial, coliform and mould count) and decreased ammonia concentration. The correlation studies between floor space and other parameters viz, litter moisture, air ammonia and litter microbial load,(total bacterial count, coliform and mould count) revealed negative (p<0.01) correlation. Whereas, positive(p<0.01) correlation was observed between floor space and weight gain. The correlation between weight gain and other parameters like litter moisture, air ammonia, litter microbial load is influenced by floor space. Highest (p<0.01) body weight of 1702.8 g was obtained in the lower (900 cm 2 per bird) density group.