Effect of Addition of Hydrated Lime to Litter on Recovery of Selected Bacteria and Poult Performance
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Recently, we demonstrated that 10 or 20% (wt/vol) hydrated lime used in poultry litter significantly reduced Salmonella enteritidis survival in vitro. However, preliminary studies with day-of-hatch poults suggested that lime in excess of 5% (wt/vol) in new litter caused mild but apparent ocular and respiratory irritation and thus was not further evaluated. Presently, we evaluated the effect of lower concentrations of hydrated lime in new dry pine wood shavings (0, 0.2, 1, or 5% wt/vol) on recovery of Salmonella, Campylobacter, coliforms, total aerobic colony-forming units, and poult performance (hatch to 7 wk). Although lime did not affect body weight at 3 wk of age, at 7 wk of age turkeys from 0.2% lime-treated pens were significantly (P < 0.05) heavier (219 g/bird) than turkeys grown in control pens. Even though incorporation of lime at the selected concentrations did not reduce Campylobacter or Salmonella recovery, lime did reduce overall aerobic colony-forming units and significantly increased weight gain in this experiment, possibly through reduction of other low level pathogens not measured in this study. 2005 Poultry Science Association, Inc.
