An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of the addition or not of calcium sulfate and three differents types of litter (rice seed coat. wood shaver and peanut seed coat). on the pH, dry matter and nitrogen fixation in the litter and on the broiler performance. A randomized complete design with a factorial arrangement of 3 x 2 x 2 {three different type of litter, two levels of calcium sulfate and two sex) was used with three replicates (n = 1440; 40 chicks per replicate) per treatment. In each treatment was used 35kg of litter and O or 15kg of calcium sulfate. The broiler performance was evaluated at 21, 38 and 45 days of age. Samples of litter were coilected at the end of the experiment. The results show that the addition or not of calcium sulfate did not influence the performance of the birds and did not decrease the lose of nitrogen through ammonia volatilization, but decreased the pH in the litter. The litter the differents types of materiais used in the litter did not influence the broilers performance. However, when the wood shaver was used, the feed in take was higher. The dry matter and nitrogen were not affected by any of the parameters studied. The different types of material and levels of calcium sulfate used in the litter did not affèct the dry matter and nitrogen content. The nitrogen content where the inale were raised was higher than the litter of the females. This may be affected by the higher manure production by the males.
broiler chickens; calcium sulfate; fixation of nitrogen; litter
