Effects of Exposure to Monochromatic Light on Pigeon Squab Performance and Growth-Related Hormones

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the exposure to monochromatic light on growth performance, and on the growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations in growing Pigeons ( Columba livia). A total of 144 paired adult White King Pigeons were randomly divided into 12 compartments forming groups of 12 pairs. Then, three compartments were exposed to blue LED (BL), green LED (GL), red LED (RL), and white LED (WL). Allocation of light colours was done within blocks of four compartments. The pigeons were kept under WL for a two week adaptation period before the study began. Body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG) were evaluated weekly. Two pigeons from each replicate group were randomly selected for blood collection to determine the hormone concentrations at 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days of age. The results indicated that there were no between-treatment differences in the final BWs ( P = 0.570), but the squabs exposed to RL had greater BWGs between 7 and 14 days of age ( P = 0.009, P = 0.049, respectively). The correlation trend lines for the body weight and growth hormone comparisons were inverted U-shaped, which corresponded to the birds’ growth cycle. The results indicated that monochromatic red light had potential effects on growth performance during the early phase of production. Growth performance was closely related to the blood plasma concentrations of GH and IGF-1.

Effects of Light Intensity and Photoperiod on Reproductive Performance of Lion Head Geese in Off-Season Production

“…Furthermore, during the initial phase of the experiment (August 2021 to November 2022), egg production was significantly higher, possibly indicating that the earlier exposure to light intensity and duration had an impact on the endocrine system. Additionally, the influence of artificial light sources and natural light sources (sunlight) on Lion Head Geese may exhibit some differences, warranting further research [12][13][14].…”

Characterization of ovarian follicles, serum steroid hormone concentration, and steroidogenic gene expression profiles in the developing ovarian follicles in White King pigeons

“…The E 2 ELISA kits were purchased at Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute (Nanjing, China), T ELISA kits from ElabScience Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Wuhan, China) and P 4 ELISA kits from Nanjing Aoqing Biological Company (Nanjing, China). The intra-assay coefficients of variation for all hormones were less than 10% and interassay coefficients of variation for all hormones were less than 15% ( Wang et al, 2016 ). Fifty microliters of standard solution or pigeon serum were added to 50 μL Biotinylated Detection Ab, incubated for 45 min at 37°C and washed 3 times, before 100 μL HRP Conjugate was added, incubated for 30 min at 37°C and washed 5 times.…”