Decrease Air Biological Contamination by Improving the Litter Characteristics in Broiler Barns During Winter

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Lattakia Governorate, Syria. The data was collected during the winter months from December 2022 to January 2023. In this experiment, 3,000 birds of the Roos hybrid were randomly assigned to four groups, each comprising 750 birds. The experiment was conducted using a completed randomized design. The objective of this experiment was to ascertain the impact of three distinct ratios of Syrian natural zeolite (Tz1, Tz2, Tz3) on the bacterial contamination of the air in broiler barns. The results demonstrated that at the sixth week of the fattening period, the bacterial concentrations in the Tz3 treatment were 7.9 x 105 and 9.5 x 10³ CFU/m³ for Staphylococcus spp. and Escherichia coli, respectively. The results demonstrated that incorporating Syrian natural zeolite into broiler litter resulted in a reduction of airborne bacteria for both Staphylococcus spp. and Escherichia coli, with a more pronounced effect observed in the Tz3 treatment within the interior airspace. This study presents a novel approach for the mitigation of airborne microorganisms within broiler barns.