Table 3.
E. coli levels in ceca# (C) (log CFU/g) during first thin-out and final pick-up on Farms 1 (F1, 2009–2010) and Farm 2 (F2, 2010–2011) in new, partial and full re-use litter treatments across six farming cycles (Cy1, Cy2, Cy3, Cy4, Cy5, Cy6).
| Cy1** | Cy2 | Cy3 | Cy4 | Cy5 | Cy6 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First thin-out | ||||||||||||
| day | 27 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 27 | 35 | 28 | 32 | 26 | 28 |
| F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | |
| New | 8.3 | 7.6 | 8.2a | 8.3 | 7.9 | 8.6a | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.7 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 8.4 |
| Partial | 8.4 | 8.0 | 6.5b | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.9b | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 7.8 |
| Full | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.9a | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0a,b | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 7.9 |
| Final pick-up | ||||||||||||
| F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | F1 | F2 | |
| day | 51 | 48 | 49 | 51 | 50 | 49 | 52 | 50 | 42 | 50 | 41 | 45 |
| New | 7.1 | 7.3 | 6.9a | 7.1 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 7.9 | 7.0b | 8.0 | 7.7a |
| Partial | 7.6 | 7.3 | 6.0b | 6.9 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 7.9 | 6.9b | 7.8 | 7.5a |
| Full | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.4a | 6.8 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 8.3 | 7.4 | 7.9 | 7.6a | 7.8 | 6.9b |
#Mean of C1, C2, from brooder end and C3, C4 from grow-out end of a shed of allocated treatment.
**All treatments equal during C1 (cycle 1).
a,bWithin farms, cycles and pickups - treatment means with different superscripts are significantly (P < 0.05) different.