The Microbiology of Built Up Poultry Litter

The numbers of viable bacteria in built up poultry litter were found to be 10¹⁰-10¹¹/g fresh weight and appeared to be little affected by factors such as age, temperature, moisture content and pH. Counts for unused litter and poultry droppings were lower. In built up litter of high alkalinity coryneform bacteria were predominant; micrococci occurred sporadically and small numbers of nocardias, streptomycetes, aerobic spore formers and streptococci were encountered. A variety of Gram negative bacteria also occurred, the numbers of which appeared to be controlled by alkalinity; they were less abundant in litters where the pH and buffering capacity were high. Strongly alkaline conditions also tended to lower the fungal counts but had no effect on the count of enterococci.