The effects of liquid potassium permanganate (KMnO4) on the litter quality of poultry were investigated. Two-hundred -forty 0-day-old broiler chickens (Arbor Acres) were randomly assigned to two treatments with four replicated pens of 30 chickens each. Treatment liquid KMnO4 at a rate of 50 g of liquid KMnO4/kg of poultry litter was sprayed onto the litter surface using a small hand pump; others served as a control that was applied without liquid KMnO4 additions. Compared with controls, the treatment liquid KMnO4 showed no differences in pH, total nitrogen and ammonia concentration. It was concluded that liquid KMnO4 did not significantly increase poultry litter quality. Mechanisms relating to increasing litter pH and ammonia using liquid KMnO4 are an oxidant agent (not acid-foaming agents).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary Hermetia illucens powder on duck litter quality. One hundred twenty Pekin ducks (0 day old) were assigned to 2 groups (0% and 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder) with 3 replicates (20 ducks per replicate) for 42 days. Duck litter quality included moisture, pH, VBN, total nitrogen, ammonia, and temperature. Litter pH and VBN values were significantly affected by Hermetia illucens powder (p<0.05). However, moisture and total nitrogen values were not greatly influenced by the addition of 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder (p>0.05). At 21, 28 and 35 days, both 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder and controls had a great effect (p<0.05) on ammonia contents, except at 7, 14 and 42 days. In comparison to control, ammonia contents in groups with 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder were reduced from 16.9 to 41.8% as the days increased. Duck litter showed lower temperature by 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder compare to control. In terms of environmental managements, these results suggest that using 0.5% Hermetia illucens powder as feed additives improved litter quality and decreased ammonia contents.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a mixture of bentonite and illite as feed additives on the growth performance and litter quality of 90 Pekin ducks. The ducks were individually weighed and randomly divided into two treatments (control and 1% combination of silicate minerals), with three replicate pens per treatment, and 15 ducks per pen. Growth performance was not significantly affected (p>0.05) by the combination of bentonite and illite, but a trend of increased growth performance was observed in the control groups. Total nitrogen content and pH in the litter decreased following supplementation with the combination of bentonite and illite (p<0.05) when compared with the control group. This data indicates that the dietary supplementation with the combination of bentonite and illite (1% level) has no positive effect on the growth performance and litter quality of Pekin ducks.