Effect of different monochromatic LED light colour and intensity on growth performance, physiological response and fear reactions in broiler chicken

Abstract

This study was aimed to evaluate the impact of different monochromatic LED light colour (white ‘WL’, green ‘GL’, blue ‘BL’ and mixed green and blue ‘GL × BL’) and two levels of light intensity (5 lx and 20 lx) on growth performance, physiological responses (haematological and biochemical), behaviour and fear reactions in broiler. A 4 × 2 factorial treatment structure was used to evaluate the impact of 4 LED light colours (WL, GL, BL and GL × BL) and 2 levels of light intensity (5 lx and 20 lx) in triplicates. One-day-old Cobb Avian-48 chicks (N = 384, 36.29 ± 0.092 g) were used. Results revealed a significant effect of light colour on performance (final weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio [FCR]), haematological parameters (haemoglobin, RBCs, PCV, TLC and H/L ratio), biochemical parameters (TP, albumin (AL), and AL/globulin (GL) ratio), tonic immobility (TI) duration and open field (OF) test (latency to first step, mobility duration, immobility duration, immobility sitting, immobility standing, pecking and dropping) with the best results observed in GL × BL. Light intensity had no effects on studied parameters except for H/L ratio, TI duration, latency to first step, immobility sitting, immobility standing and pecking with better findings detected in 5 lx. There was a significant light colour × light intensity interaction on final weight, weight gain, AL, TI duration, mobility duration, immobility duration, immobility sitting, immobility standing and pecking. Conclusively, monochromatic LED light (GL × BL, BL and GL) particularly of low intensity could be a source of light in broiler houses that might have the potential to improve broiler welfare.

Highlights

• LED light is an important factor in the broiler production.

• Mixed blue and green, blue or green light of 5 lx improves broiler performance and health status.

• Mixed blue and green, blue or green light of low intensity reduced fear reaction in broilers.

Keywords:

• Broiler
• LED light
• light intensity
• fear
• behaviour
• welfare

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Usama Abou-Ismail and Reuben Don for their helpful comments and revising the language of the article.

Ethical approval

The experimental protocol used for broiler in this study was conducted in accordance with Egyptian Legislation on Ethics in Broiler Use and Handling and the committee of animal care and use in research, Kafrelsheikh University.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest associated with the article. All authors contributed equally in this work (conception, acquisition, samples analysis, statistical analysis, data interpretation, manuscript drafting and manuscript revision).

Additional information

Funding

This study was not financially supported by any funding organisation.