THE APPLICABILITY OF PARTICLEBOARD RESIDUE AS A LITTER MATERIAL FOR MALE TURKEYS

Particleboard residue is a by-product of the secondary wood products m anufacturing industries. Large quantities of this product are landfill ed for lack of better use. The objective of the current study was to i nvestigate the possibility of using particleboard residue as a litter source for male turkeys. Two sizes of particleboard residue, fine and coarse, were compared to hardwood shavings. Compared to hardwood shavi ngs, fine and coarse particleboard was a drier, cleaner product initia lly, as indicated by lower moisture content as well as bacteria and mo ld counts at Day 0. Turkeys reared for 123 d on fine particleboard had several advantages over those reared on either the coarse particleboa rd or hardwood shavings, which included significantly lowered incidenc es of breast buttons and leg abnormalities. Perhaps due to the jagged edges and coarser texture, coarse particleboard increased the incidenc e of foot pad dermatitis when compared to the other two litter sources . Turkeys reared on fine particleboard had a 0.16 kg reduction (P < 0. 01) in live market body weights compared to the toms reared on hardwoo d shavings, but this was offset by a 0.22 kg gain in muscle deposition (P < 0.05). Mortality, breast weights and yields, and feed efficiency were unaffected by litter source. Based on the variables studied, it was concluded that fine particleboard residue could be used as an alte rnative bedding material for male turkeys.