Using Chopped Giant Miscanthus Grass as Poultry Bedding
ISSN 2158-9429
Volume 18, Issue 1 - June 2025
Editor: Linda Chalker-Scott
Abstract
The Giant Miscanthus Grass (GMG) was evaluated as a poultry bedding material over six flocks on a brand new eight-house commercial broiler farm. Chopped Giant Miscanthus grass was placed in four broiler houses (houses 1, 2, 3 and 4) while pine shavings (PS), which is the typical bedding for most broiler production, were placed in the second set of 4 houses (houses 5, 6, 7 and 8). The study compared the effects of the GMG on house environmental conditions and production variables to that of the pine shavings. Ammonia concentration, litter moisture content and paw scores for each flock were compared.
The results from the study showed that there were no significant differences (p< 0.05) between the treatments in ammonia concentration, with the GMG mean of 20.06 ppm compared to PS with a mean of 19.73 ppm over the course of the 6 flocks. Paw scores were taken the week of processing in flocks 3 and 4. No significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in paw scores between the two treatments. There were no significant differences (p<0.05) in litter moisture between GMG (19.45% moisture) and PS (21.20% moisture), however, there was a flock effect where flock 4 had significantly higher (p<0.05) litter moisture when compared to the other flocks. The results indicate that Giant Miscanthus Grass can be utilized as a valid alternative bedding material in commercial broilers houses.
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