Effects of the Long Term Spraying of the Disinfectant (PACOMA^®) on Growth and Histological Changes of White Leghorn Pullets Caged in a Windowless House

Abstract

Five rotary spray systems, each calibrated to deliver 10 liters of disinfectant per min, were installed on cross-beams (2.3m above the floor) with intervals of about 10m in each of two 7.3×51.0m cage-type houses: one served as a control and the other as an experimental. In each house, approximately 5, 000 birds of White Leghorn pullets were kept. In experimental house, the rotary system was operated for 120 sec twice daily at 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. throughout the raising period up to 71 days of age in Experiment 1 and up to 105 days of age in Experiment 2. The disinfectant sprayed was 0.5% invert soap type disinfectant (PACOMA^®, Eisai Co.). The sanitary environment was evaluated by the number of falling bacteria counted by a routine technique and the quantity of airborne dust measured by a Dust Meter (Shibata Type-P). Body weight and the rate of raising were recorded. In Exp. 2, five birds in each of the experimental and control group were autopsied and their respiratory, digestive and urinary organs were examined histologically.
The number of falling bacteria and the weight of the airborne dust were decreased significantly by the spraying (Table 1, 2). A minor increase in the body weight and a significant increase in the viability were observed in the experimental group (Table 3, 4). No pathological change was observed in the birds of the experimental group, whereas in the brds of the control group some pathological changes were found in the mucosa of concha nasalis superior (Photo. 1), trachea (Photo. 2) and the secondary bronchus of the lung (Photo. 3). The results suggest that the long term spraying of the disinfectant by the rotary system may serve for the improvement of the sanitary environment, without any harmful effect on the birds kept in cages, in a windowless house.