Impact of formaldehyde application in commercial hatchers on chick intestinal microbiota

< 0.05). Air plate enumeration was descriptive only, but airborne counts generally increased from d 19 to d 21 in both hatchers, with only limited apparent reduction during formaldehyde exposure. Overall, the commercial formaldehyde application program evaluated here did not prevent the hatch-associated increase in cultivable intestinal microbiota and appeared to provide only limited short-term suppression of microbial recovery in the hatcher environment.