Mitigating the Spread and Translocation of Salmonella Enteritidis in Experimentally Infected Broilers under the Influence of Different Flooring Housing Systems and Feed Particle Sizes.

This study aimed to evaluate the influences of different flooring designs and feed particle sizes on the spread of Salmonella ( S. ) in broiler chickens. Birds ( n = 480) were allocated to four different housing systems (fully littered with and without floor heating, partially and fully slatted flooring with sand bath) and two dietary treatments (finely and coarsely ground diets) in 24 boxes. Two broilers per box were experimentally infected with S. Enteritidis (8.00 log ₁₀ CFU/bird) at d 17. Salmonella prevalence in caecal contents and the liver was highest in broilers housed on fully slatted floor until d 36/37 (88.1% and 91.5%, respectively), and lowest in litter flooring (caecal content 64.4%) and litter flooring with floor heating (liver 61.7%). In turn, broilers on littered flooring expressed the lowest Salmonella counts in caecal content at d 36/37 (2.21 ± 1.75 log ₁₀ CFU/g), partial slatted flooring the highest (3.76 ± 1.46 log ₁₀ CFU/g). The mean Salmonella count in the caecal content was significantly lower for birds fed a coarsely ground diet (0.96 and 1.94 log ₁₀ CFU/g) than a finely ground diet (5.07 and 3.34 log ₁₀ CFU/g) at d 23 and d 36/37, respectively ( p < 0.0001). Slatted flooring with a sand bath did not show advantages in terms of Salmonella reduction, whereas the coarsely ground diet markedly reduced the spread of Salmonella .