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Title: Effects of color temperatures (Kelvin) of LED bulbs on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and ocular welfare indices of broilers grown to heavy weights

Author
item Olanrewaju, Hammed
item Purswell, Joseph - Jody
item MASLIN, W - Mississippi State University
item Collier, Stephanie
item Branton, Scott

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2014
Publication Date: 3/15/2015
Citation: Olanrewaju, H.A., Purswell, J.L., Maslin, W.R., Collier, S.D., Branton, S.L. 2015. Effects of color temperatures (Kelvin) of LED bulbs on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and ocular welfare indices of broilers grown to heavy weights. Poultry Science. 94:338-344.

Interpretive Summary: It’s very important to adopt favorable lighting sources and reasonable lighting programs (color, intensity, and photoperiod) to promote the growth performance of broiler chicken. Incandescent lighting has been widely used to light broiler houses, but the disadvantages of short life, high energy consumption, and costly maintenance have become more prominent in poultry production. Over the last three decades, different types of lighting have been invented including light emitting diodes (LED). New regulations are prohibiting the incandescent bulb all over the world and will be replaced by modern lighting based on their positive effects on growth. Limited data are available for comparing LED light bulbs that are currently available in commercial broiler production facilities. To address this, we evaluated the effects of color temperatures (Kelvin) of LED light bulbs on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and ocular welfare indices of broilers grown to heavy weights. Four treatments consisted of 3 LED light bulbs (2700k, Warm [LED-1], 3500k, Neutral [LED-2,], 5000k, Cool [LED-3]) and incandescent light (ICD, standard) from d 0 to 56 d of age along with 5 lx intensity starting from 22 to 56 d of age. The results indicated that at 56days of age, we observed that the body weight, body weight gain, live weight and carcass weights of birds reared under Neutral-LED were significantly (P = 0.05) higher in comparison to birds reared under ICD. However, feed intake, feed to gain ratio, and mortality were not affected by treatments. There was no effect of treatments on fat, breast and tender weights and yields. In addition, ocular welfare indices and plasma corticosterone were not affected by treatments, suggesting these LED light bulbs we evaluated did not compromise welfare of the birds. It was concluded that neutral LED may be a better potential replacement light source in comparison to ICD on performance, but equal when compared to other LED light sources examined in this study.

Technical Abstract: Limited data are available for comparing light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs that are currently available in commercial broiler production facilities. We evaluated the effects of color temperatures (Kelvin) of LED bulbs on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and ocular welfare indices of broilers grown to heavy weights (> 3.0 kg). The experimental design was a randomized complete block design. Four treatments consisted of 3 LED light bulbs (2700k, Warm [LED-1], 3500k, Neutral [LED-2,], 5000k, Cool [LED-3]) and incandescent light (ICD, standard) from d 0 to 56 d of age along with 5 lx intensity starting from 22 to 56 d of age. A total of 960 1-d-old Ross × Ross 708 chicks were equally and randomly distributed into 16 environmentally-controlled rooms at 50% RH. Thus, each of the four treatments was represented by four rooms (as 4 replicates) per trial. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. All birds were fed the same diet. Ocular specimens were collected on d 42, while blood samples were collected on d 56. Also on d 56, 20 (10 males and 10 females) birds from each room were processed to determine weights and yields. The BW and BW gain, live weight and carcass weights of birds reared under Neutral-LED were significantly (P = 0.05) higher in comparison to birds reared under ICD. However, FI, FCR, and mortality were not affected by treatments. There was no effect of treatments on fat, breast and tender weights and yields. In addition, ocular welfare indices and plasma corticosterone were not affected by treatments, suggesting these LED light bulbs we evaluated did not compromise welfare of the birds. It was concluded that neutral LED may be a better potential replacement light source in comparison to ICD on performance, but equal when compared to other LED light sources examined in this study.