Evaluation of the reuse of poultry litter on the carcass condemnated due to colibacillosis

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of poultry litter reuse on the condemnation of chicken carcasses in two slaughterhouses under federal inspection in the State of São Paulo, which obtain poultry from farms with different bed reuse protocols. Brazil is a major producer and exporter of chicken meat and there are many losses in the production chain, which could result in higher productivity if there are not problems in that process. The management of poultry litter is important for the final quality of the carcasses and is associated with most of the pathologies found in broilers, such as colibacillosis. Do not observed condemnation by colibacillosis in the slaughtering “A” that farms reuse the chicken litter for a maximum of six times. But in the slaughterhouse “B” the carcasses rejection was 0.06% and the chickens were coming from farms that reuse the material for more than six times. Both farms reuse the chicken litter after turning and fermentation protocols. These results demonstrate a relation between the number of times the material is used and the pathology studied. Thus, the management of chicken litter can be responsible for the losses of carcasses by colibacillosis in the poultry industry.