ALTERNATIVE LIGHT TECHNOLOGY EFFECT ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND BLOOD PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKENS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

2 Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt

3 Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Egypt

Abstract

Lighting is an important aspect of the poultry environment. Finding alternative light sources has become important because of the removal of incandescent lights from the market and reduce production costs. This study evaluates the effect of different lighting sources on the productive performance, carcass measurements, and blood parameters of broilers. For this purpose, 200-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) obtained from a commercial hatchery were randomly divided into four experimental groups each comprising of 50 birds. The first group was given incandescent light (INC) as a control, the second group was given compact fluorescent light (CFL), the third group was given light-emitting diode white worm light (LEDW), the fourth group was given light-emitting diode white worm cold light (LEDC). Body weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were recorded. Carcass, breast muscles, leg muscles, edible parts, and inedible parts as a percentage to live body weight was calculated. Blood collected via the left jugular vein was performed to obtain heterophil to lymphocyte (H: L) ratio and corticosterone concentration. Some blood constitutes were estimated such protein and lipid profiles, Calcium and Phosphorus electrolytes. Some related growth hormones were estimated in blood. Main results showed that using LED bulbs can increase live body weight and it also improved feed conversion ratio of the birds, while there are no significant differences between groups for carcass measurements. Also, the use of LED lights reduces the H/L ratio and the level of corticosterone in the blood, which indicates a decrease in the stress on the birds. The conclusion refers to using LEDC technology as alternative for INC and FL bulbs in broiler houses, as it improves FCR, carcass% and total breast muscle% and achieved resistance to stress when recorded lowest values of blood corticosterone and H/L ratio. The best performance of kidney and liver functions was noticed in LEDC treatment. The LEDC treatment had the highest GH levels in blood

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