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Comparative Study of Systems of Drinkers in the Microbiological Quality of the Water Consumed by Broiler Chickens

Two drinker systems used by commercial broiler growers, the bell drinker type and the nipple drinker, were studied aiming to evaluate the microbiological quality of the water supplied to the birds in relation to occurrence of total and fecal coliforms, mesophilic aerobic, moulds and yeast. The water samplings were taken on the 1st, 14th, 28th and 42th days of age. The days of sampling, in accordance with the cleaning schedule for the bell type drinkers, were divided into three periods: before the cleaning, right after cleaning and at noon. The evaluated drinkers presented patterns of contamination in relation to the most probable number (mpn/100ml) of fecal coliforms above that of the limit number established by the Ministry of Health, Brazil. The counts for mould and yeast (cfu/mL) obtained from bell type drinkers showed a higher pattern of contamination when compared to the nipple drinker. In a second stage of the study, the effect of constant flow chlorination was evaluated on the microbiological quality of the water, using the same standard parameters as previous described. Dosage measurement pumps of chlorine were installed in each poultry house and managed to keep a concentration of 2mg/l of free residual chlorine. Continuous flow water chlorination improved the microbiological quality in relation to the MPN of total and faecal coliforms in the evaluated drinkers. In relation to the mesophilic aerobic, the evaluated drinkers showed to be out of the standards established by the MH-Bresil, while the nipple type was the drinker that presented the best performance. The nipple drinker showed lower patterns of water contamination in relation to that presented in the bell type drinkers. Even thought, the water contamination were out of the established standard for drinking water.

water; broiler chickens; bell drinker; nipple drinker; microbiological quality


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