[Salmonella in broiler intestines in relation to flooring system]

Broilers were reared on two flooring systems: conventional litter (wood shavings) and plastic floor ("trampoline") without litter. Female birds were housed over 49 d (20 birds per m2), males over 70 d (10 birds per m2). After slaughtering the guts were sampled and deep frozen. Guts of 84 birds from litter floor and 94 birds from plastic floor were examined for Salmonella. Totally, 20% of the guts were Salmonella negative. The plastic floor did not significantly diminish the occurrence of Salmonella. Also not significant in both flooring systems was the higher amount of negative samples after 49 d than after 70 days. Data show, that the amount of Salmonella in the guts of birds from plastic-floor might have been lower than those from litter-floor, in the samples from plastic-floor the amount of Salmonella after 49 days might have been lower than in those after 70 days rearing. The isolates were S. virchow and S. enteritidis.