Research Note: Use of ammonia gas for Salmonella control in poultry litters

Abstract A new poultry litter disinfection methodology against pathogenic Salmonella spp. serovars using gaseous ammonia is proposed in this study. In laboratory, the poultry litter was disposed into plastic containers and experimentally contaminated with 3 Salmonella spp. serovars separately. Positive and negative control groups were performed. With a system of hoses, 1% gaseous ammonia was injected into the containers in cycles for 48 hours. Samples of the poultry litter were collected and submitted to bacteriological analysis. For the second part, we selected a broiler poultry farm with positive litters for Salmonella Heidelberg in two houses. The littler was treated by gaseous ammonia in a concentration of 2411ppm and wrapped with a plastic cover for 48 hours during the sanitary break. After the treatment, a new broiler batch was housed. Swab samples were collected in the 25-day-old batch at three sections of the poultry house. After the action of the gaseous compound, there was no re-isolation of the serovars, and the batches housed on the ammonia treated litter no longer showed positive results for Salmonella. The total elimination of the pathogenic microorganisms by the new method suggests that the controlled use of ammonia gas in poultry litter may represent a viable disinfection technique.