Litter management in poultry houses: An important issue in poultry production

Litter means any bedding material which are used in the poultry to absorb moisture from droppings, to keep floor reasonably dry and clean, comfort of birds, and to provide insulation to the birds. An ideal litter material should release moisture quickly at the same time is should able to absorb the moisture of faeces and spilled water from the drinkers. Availability and type of litter varies from country to country. In every part of the world most common litter materials are chopped straw, paper mill by products, saw dust, wood shavings, sand, rice husk, sugar can pulp, sugarcane bagasse, oat hulls, corn cobs, ground corn cobs, dried leaves, coffee husk, peat moss etc. (Oliveira et al., 1975; Ghany et al., 1977). In Bangladesh, litters like rice husk, sawdust, chopped straw, sand ash etc. are used conventionally (Monira et al., 2004). Other materials like chopped rice straw, dried leaves, coffee husk though not good can be used in places where other good materials are not available (Rao, 1986).