Comparison of Two LED Light Bulbs to a Dimmable CFL and their Effects on Broiler Chicken Growth, Stress, and Fear

Abstract

The poultry industry is currently undergoing a shift to alternative lighting sources as incandescent lights become less available. While LED and CFL bulbs both have associated increased energy savings, they may affect the bird's growth and well-being differently as they output different light spectrums. To determine how different LED bulbs and a CFL bulb affected broiler performance, behavior, stress, and overall well-being, we conducted an experiment using Cobb broiler chickens (N=360). A NextGen LED bulb (NextGen), a Once Innovations LED bulb (Once), and a dimmable CFL (CFL) were used, all of which had different spectral outputs. Growth and feed conversion, several stress measures, fear tests, organ characteristics, and animal welfare assessment parameters were collected to determine how each light type affected animal well-being. LED treatments had shorter (P<0.05) latency to right during tonic immobility testing when compared to the CFL treatment; however, no other differences (P>0.05) were seen in the other fear tests. The Once treatment resulted in lower composite physical asymmetry, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, and basal plasma corticosterone concentrations compared to the other treatments (P<0.05). Differences were observed in some organ measures; notably in the eye dimensions of the Once treatment. The Once treatment also had lower (P<0.05) plumage, hock, and footpad scores when compared to CFL treatment, while the Nextgen treatment had lower (P<0.05) plumage and hock scores than the CFL treatment but no difference between the two was seen in foot pad scores. Weight at the end of the growout was not affected by bulb type, however, both LED treatments had increased feed conversion (P<0.05). These results indicate that LEDs can result in better well-being and feed conversion when compared to CFLs. It is also notable that the LEDs did not have the same effects and this is likely due to the spectrum of light each creates. LEDs were shown to improve production and well-being of broiler chickens compared to CFLs.

Effect of some light sources on broiler chickens performance under Assiut conditions, Egypt

“…The previous results agree with those of Rozenboim et al (2004), Cao et al (2008 and Angélica Mendes et al (2013) who found that the chickens exposed to light emitted from white LED lamps had the least FC and the better FCR than did chickens reared under the other light sources. Moreover, significant differences in FC and FCR of birds exposed to light emitted from different light sources were observed by Riber (2015), Huth and Archer (2015) and Olanrewaju et al (2015). Also, Hossein and Zaghari (2016) reported that the FCR was lowest at birds reared under light emitted from warm-white light LED lamps compared to the reared under the light emitted from the incandescent lamps.…”

“…In addition to the green LED lamps illumination could improve the antioxidative capacity and secretion of melatonin to promote B lymphocyte proliferation of bursa of fabricius in young broilers (Li et al, 2015). Moreover, Riber (2015), Huth and Archer (2015), Hossein and Zaghari (2016) and Olanrewaju et al (2016) found that the carcass traits, giblets and immune organs improved in birds reared under light emitted from LED lamps compared to the other sources. On the other hand, Deep et al (2010), Farghly and Abdel-nabi (2011), Farghly et al (2015b, Ahmed et al (2015) and Mohamed et al (2017) who reported that most of the carcass characteristics for poultry species (broilers, Dandarawi chickens and Japanese quail) were not affected by various light sources.…”

“…The obtained results agree with Behnke and Beyer (2006) and Angélica Mendes et al (2013) who attributed that the chickens raised under white LED bulbs had better production performance (BW and BWG) than did chickens raised under CFL and INC bulbs. The significant increase in BW and BWG for broiler reared under light emitted from LED lamps may be as a result of decreased stress found in the LED treatments, which in turn, decreasing in "waste energy" may increase the amount of energy put towards muscle growth, thereby improving conversion of feed into muscle (Huth and Archer, 2015;Riber, 2015). Similar results, were obtained by Hossein and Zaghari (2016) who found that the body weight, were highest at the birds reared under warmwhite light emitted from LED lamps compared to the incandescent treatment.…”

Antioxidant Defence Systems and Oxidative Stress in Poultry Biology: An Update

“…Inadequate temperature [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Inadequate ventilation and increased dust [1,18,19,40,41] Inadequate lightning [1,18,19,42,43]…”

The Perspective of Total Lighting as a Key Factor to Increase the Sustainability of Strategic Activities

“…Some interesting studies demonstrated a long time ago that supplementary light increased milk yield [28], but today, we also know that certain lighting conditions can also avoid some diseases in cows [29], which means important savings in drugs, loss of production, profit from meat and, in summary, more sustainable cow ranching. Concerning chickens, an accurate period of light exposure also impacts the circadian rhythms, with a subsequent increase in growth and positive impact without higher environmental impact [30,31].…”