The influence of light of different wavelengths on laying hen production and egg quality

England, Ashley D.; Ruhnke, Isabelle

doi:10.1080/00439339.2020.1789023

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…This is supported by no significant impacts of UVA/B radiation on oviposition in young sexually mature laying hens (Lewis et al, 2000b) and no impact of natural light exposure on sexual maturity compared with pullets exposed to red light wavelengths (Gongruttananun, 2011). Furthermore, there is limited evidence for effects of UVA and/or UVB supplementation on egg production and egg quality during the laying cycle as summarized in Table 3 and previously reviewed in England and Ruhnke (2020). Across different strains of laying hens, several studies have supplemented with UVA (prototype UV LED bulbs, fluorescent bulbs, or insect light traps), or natural daylight and found no significant impact on egg production, performance, and egg quality traits including egg weight, eggshell breaking strength, eggshell thickness, albumen height, albumen weight, yolk color, yolk height and Haugh units compared with standard lighting (Hogsette et al, 1997;Gongruttananun, 2011;Sobotik et al, 2020;Spindler et al, 2020).…”

Section: Egg Production and Egg Qualitymentioning

confidence: 83%

“…With consumers driving improvements in animal welfare, housing systems must cater to bird needs as well as being sustainable, thus requiring environmental optimization. The provision of UV light has garnered increasing interest with recent reviews highlighting the potential benefits for extending the commercial hen laying cycle (England and Ruhnke, 2020), and for enhancing vitamin D content in eggs for human health (Barnkob et al, 2020). Access to UV light is also more natural for poultry which may align with consumers' views that a more "natural" environment is better for bird welfare (Schröder and McEachern, 2004;Vanhonacker and Verbeke, 2014;Pettersson et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Application of Ultraviolet Light for Poultry Production: A Review of Impacts on Behavior, Physiology, and Production

Rana

Campbell

2021

Front. Anim. Sci.

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The application of ultraviolet (UV) light in poultry production is garnering increased interest with the drive toward improved poultry welfare and optimized production. Poultry can see in the UV spectrum (UVA wavelengths: 320–400 nm) thus inclusion of these shorter wavelengths may be viewed as more natural but are typically excluded in conventional artificial lights. Furthermore, UVB wavelengths (280–315) have physiological impact through stimulation of vitamin D pathways that can then improve skeletal health. However, better understanding of the effects of UV supplementation must occur before implementation practically. This non-systematic literature review aimed to summarize the impacts of UV supplementation on the behavior, welfare, and production of laying hens, meat chickens (breeders and growers), and other domestic poultry species including directions for future research. The literature demonstrated that UVA light has positive impacts on reducing fear and stress responses but in some research, it significantly increases feather pecking over age during the production phase. UVB light will significantly improve skeletal health, but an optimum duration of exposure is necessary to get this benefit. Supplementation with UVB light may have more distinct impacts on egg production and eggshell quality when hens are experiencing a dietary vitamin D3 deficiency, or if they are at the terminal end of production. The relative benefits of UVB supplementation across different ages needs to be further verified along with commercial trials to confirm beneficial or detrimental impacts of adding UVA wavelengths. Further research is warranted to determine whether adding natural light wavelengths to indoor poultry production is indeed a positive step toward optimizing commercial housing systems.

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Section: Egg Production and Egg Qualitymentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Ultraviolet Light for Poultry Production: A Review of Impacts on Behavior, Physiology, and Production

Rana

Campbell

2021

Front. Anim. Sci.

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“…Birds can perceive colored light (400-700 nm) as well as the ultraviolet (UV) portion of the spectrum (100-400 nm) due to the presence of external retinal cones in their eyes [63]. Light colors may affect poultry behaviors, well-being, and performance and produce different results.…”

Section: Light Color/wavelengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have confirmed that pullets exposed to longer wavelengths of light (LWL, red/yellow/orange) have increased egg production later in life compared to shorter wavelengths of light (SWL, blue/green) although responses may vary depending on bird strain and the intensity of the light used [63,65]. In addition, it was monitored that folliclestimulating hormone (FSH) concentration, ovarian weight, and follicle number increased in hens raised under LWL [66].…”

Section: Light Color/wavelengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Key Farm Management Practices on Pullets Welfare—A Review

Qin

Liu

et al. 2022

Animals

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Studies on animal behavior and welfare have reported that improving the management practices of pullets can enhance their growth, as well as their physical and mental condition, thus benefiting the productivity of laying hens. There is growing confidence in the international community to abandon the conventional practices of “cage-rearing and beak-trimming” to improve the welfare of chickens. Therefore, in this review, we summarized some of the effective poultry management practices that have provided welfare benefits for pullets. The results are as follows: 1. Maintaining similar housing conditions at different periods alleviates fear and discomfort among pullets; 2. Pullets reared under cage-free systems have better physical conditions and temperaments than those reared in cage systems, and they are more suitable to be transferred to similar housing to lay eggs; 3. Improving flock uniformity in appearance and body size has reduced the risk of pecking and injury; 4. Maintaining an appropriate population (40–500 birds) has reduced flock aggressiveness; 5. A combination of 8–10 h of darkness and 5–30 lux of light-intensity exposure via natural or warm white LED light has achieved a welfare–performance balance in pullets. (This varies by age, strain, and activities.); 6. Dark brooders (mimicking mother hens) have alleviated fear and pecking behaviors in pullets; 7. The air quality of the chicken house has been effectively improved by optimizing feed formulation and ventilation, and by reducing fecal accumulation and fermentation; 8. Complex environments (with litter, perches, straw bales, slopes, platforms, outdoor access, etc.) have stimulated the activities of chickens and have produced good welfare effects. In conclusion, the application of comprehensive management strategies has improved the physical and mental health of pullets, which has, in turn, improved the quantity and quality of poultry products.

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“…Successive clutches are separated by one or more days of pause. The length and number of clutches are controlled by the ovulatory cycle, directly observed by the oviposition cycle, and governed by the circadian rhythm and the internal cycle of follicular growth and maturation [ 7 , 8 ]. Egg-laying can be characterized by two temporal oviposition traits: oviposition time and oviposition interval (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest acceptance, clutch, and oviposition traits are promising selection criteria to improve egg production in cage-free system

et al. 2021

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In cage-free systems, laying hens must lay their eggs in the nests. Selecting layers based on nesting behavior would be a good strategy for improving egg production in these breeding systems. However, little is known about the genetic determinism of nest-related traits. Laying rate in the nests (LRN), clutch number (CN), oviposition traits (OT), and nest acceptance for laying (NAL) of 1,430 Rhode Island Red (RIR) hens and 1,008 White Leghorn (WL) hens were recorded in floor pens provided with individual electronic nests. Heritability and genetic and phenotypic correlations of all traits were estimated over two recording periods–the peak (24–43 weeks of age) and the middle (44–64 weeks of age) of production–by applying the restricted maximum likelihood method to an animal model. The mean oviposition time (MOT) ranged from 2 h 5 min to 3 h and from 3 h 35 min to 3 h 44 min after turning on the lights for RIR and WL hens, respectively. The mean oviposition interval ranged from 24 h 3 min to 24 h 16 min. All heritability and correlation estimates were similar for RIR and WL. Low to moderate heritability coefficients were estimated for LRN (0.04–0.25) and moderate to high heritability coefficients for CN and OT (0.27–0.68). CN and OT were negatively genetically correlated with LRN (-0.92 to -0.39) except during peak production for RIR (-0.30 to +0.43). NAL was weakly to moderately heritable (0.13–0.26). Genetic correlations between NAL and other traits were low to moderate (-0.41 to +0.44). In conclusion, CN and OT are promising selection criteria to improve egg production in cage-free systems. NAL can be also used to reduce the number of eggs laid off-nest in these breeding systems. However, variability in MOT must be maintained to limit competition for the nests.

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The influence of light of different wavelengths on laying hen production and egg quality

Cited by 20 publications

References 54 publications

Application of Ultraviolet Light for Poultry Production: A Review of Impacts on Behavior, Physiology, and Production

Application of Ultraviolet Light for Poultry Production: A Review of Impacts on Behavior, Physiology, and Production

Effects of Key Farm Management Practices on Pullets Welfare—A Review

Nest acceptance, clutch, and oviposition traits are promising selection criteria to improve egg production in cage-free system

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