Changes in the microbial flora, chlorophenols and chloroanisoles in broiler house litter during a chicken rearing cycle

The changes in the microbial flora, chlorophenol loss, and chloroanisole production have been studied in the litter from four broiler houses through a single rearing cycle. An increase in species of Scopulariopsis and Aspergillus over the first 4 to 5 weeks of the rearing cycle coincided with a decrease in the levels of 2, 4, 6‐tri‐, 2, 3, 4, 6‐tetra‐, and pentachlorophenols, a rise in p H and moisture content of the litter and a decline in the fungal species normally present in the fresh shavings. The maximum levels of chloroanisoles occurred at approximately the same stage of the rearing cycle as the highest viable count of the predominant litter fungi.