Summary

The chicken meat industry requires reliable supplies of safe high-quality water for meat chicken production. The quality of water used in production plays a major role in flock performance via the effect on digestion and absorption of nutrients. Furthermore, water can be a carrier of avian diseases and hazardous microbial and chemicals contaminants. There are two major interrelated factors that determine the quality of farm water, 1) water source quality and 2) on-farm distribution system effects. This project will therefore consider both water source and on-farm distribution system water quality issues, pre-sanitization treatment methods, sanitisation methods and on-farm water distribution system water quality management practices. The findings of this research will be summarised into an industry best practice manual for water quality management and sanitization on-farm.

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

Integrity Ag and Environment Pty Ltd

Objective Summary

This project covers two objectives regarding water quality and sanitization. Specific objectives of this project are:
1. Review potential water pre-sanitization treatments that could be used to increase water quality (practical pre-treatments, for example: ceramic filters, PPE filters, sand filters, GAC, PAC, resins, BAC and ozone, coagulation, ultra-filtration, nano-filtration and reverse osmosis etc) that meet industry requirements for water quality.
2. Review sanitization treatment methods (practical low-cost sanitization, for example: chlorine, chloramines, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide (liquid), ozone, UV, potassium permanganate etc) that meet industry requirements for water quality. Additionally, water treatment additives (i.e. for acidification, pH buffering/stabilisation) will be reviewed.
3. Review on-farm water distribution system quality management practices (for example: flushing, shock chlorination etc) that meet industry requirements for water quality.
4. Identify best practice management and document this in a manual for industry.