EFFECT OF LITTER TYPE AND AMENDMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF BROILER CHICKENS

A seven-week trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of alum and bentonite on performance and litter quality of broiler chickens raised on wood shavings and rice husk. 306-day-old broiler chicks were randomly allotted to six treatments, with three replicates of seventeen birds each in a 2x3 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. The treatments were Wood shavings only (WDSH) as treatment 1, treatments 2,3,4,5 and 6 were Wood shavings+ Alum (WDAL), Wood shavings+ Bentonite (WDBN), Rice husk only (RHSK), Rice husk+ Alum (RHAL), Rice husk+ Bentonite (RHBN), respectively. Diet was compounded to meet the nutritional requirement of the birds at both starter (0-4 weeks) and finisher (5-7 weeks) phases. The birds were fed ad libitum with daily routines and vaccination schedules adhered to. Data were collected for growth performance and carcass characteristics; and subjected to analysis of variance using the General Linear Model procedure of statistical analysis system. At the starter phase, the interaction effect of WDAL was statistically (P