Correction of floor laying in duck by the provision of floor litter, nest type and nesting material

A total of 72 forty weeks old Jending ducks having history of. floor laying were placed on either Rice husk (RH) or Saw dust (SD) floor litters. They were given choice to lay eggs either in top or bottom tier to lay on either RH, SD, Chopped Rice Straw (CRS) or Sand (SA) as nesting materials for a period of 60 days. The purpose was to observe whether floor laying is corrected by the provision of floor litter, nest tier and nesting material. The choice of laying site as influenced by those provisions was also examined. Provision of floor litter, nest and nesting material increased proportion of egg laid in nest and within 20 days of experimental period. Floor laying was totally corrected and persisted up to the end of the experiment. Egg weight, rate of lay and live weight did not vary (P>0.05) between floor litters. Slightly heavier eggs were laid in bottom tier than that in top tier. More eggs were laid in bottom tier than that in top tier. Proportionately, more eggs were laid on RH and CRS than that on SD and SA nesting materials. Significantly more time was spent to lay eggs on SA nesting materials, but time spending did not vary (P>0,05) among RH, CRS and SD nesting materials. Few ducks had tendency to accumulate their eggs to sit on. Placing previous eggs in the nest encouraged to lay in nest. It was concluded that provision of proper litter, nest and nesting materials might totally correct floor laying in ducks. RH and CRS seemed to be best, SD intermediate and SA in worst nesting materials. Placing two storied nest may satisfy the need of ducks of varying live weight to lay in nest

Performance of Broiler reared on Different Litter materials in Late Autumn Season under Bangladesh condition

A total of 168 (7-days-old) straight-run Arber Acres chicks were reared on 4 litter materials i.e. saw dust, rice husk, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw up to 49 days of age to compare growth performance. Average body weight gain and feed conversion ratio at 49 days of age were 1708g, 1601g, 1628g, 1610g and 2.55, 2.51, 2.55, 2.53 on sawdust, rice husk, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw respectively. The birds reared on sawdust in lateautumn season gained highest body weight, best feed-conversion efficiency had on rice husk litter. Feed consumption and survivability were more or less similar in all treatment groups. Litter cost per kg liveweight was tended to be higher on wheat straw than other litters. So, it may be concluded that sawdust was the most suitable litter followed by rice husk, sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw in late-autumn season under Bangladesh condition