Effect of Exposing Layer and Broiler Eggs to Red or White Light During Incubation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3923/ijps.2015.491.496Keywords:
Broiler, hatchability, incubation, layer, lightAbstract
Previous study has shown that layer and broiler eggs filter light. It was hypothesized that due to the difference in pigment of the eggshells that utilizing red light would improve hatch in white eggs similarly to that observed in brown eggs using white light. To determine we incubated chicken eggs (n = 2592) under either no light (dark), red light, or white light; the light level was 250 lx and equal numbers of layer and broiler eggs were used. White light was observed to increase (p = 0.05) hatch of fertile (92.5±1.3%) over dark and red light incubated broiler eggs (86.1±2.2 and 86.1±2.6%). White light had no effect on hatch of fertile when compared with dark incubated white layer eggs (68.11±12.8%); however, red light (88.0±4.8%) showed an increased (p = 0.05) hatch of fertile over dark incubated white layer eggs. Brown eggs exposed to white (0.85±0.02) or red (0.80±0.02) improved (p<0.05) the proportion of non-defect chicks over dark (0.52±0.02) incubated eggs. Similarly, white eggs show the same trend of white (0.79±0.02) or red (0.72±0.04) improved (p<0.05) the proportion of non-defect chicks over dark (0.51±0.02) incubated eggs. Chick length was not affected (p>0.05) by any treatment. These results indicate that red light is possibly the key spectrum to improving hatchability.
References
Archer, G.S., 2015. Timing of light exposure during incubation to improve hatchability, chick quality and post-hatch well-being in broiler chickens: 21 or 18 days. Int. J. Poult. Sci., 14: 293-299.
Archer, G.S. and J.A. Mench, 2013. The effects of light stimulation during incubation on indicators of stress susceptibility in broilers. Poult. Sci., 92: 3103-3108.
Archer, G.S. and J.A. Mench, 2014. The effects of the duration and onset of light stimulation during incubation on the behavior, plasma melatonin levels and productivity of broiler chickens. J. Anim. Sci., 92: 1753-1758.
Archer, G.S. and J.A. Mench, 2014. Natural incubation patterns and the effects of exposing eggs to light at various times during incubation on post-hatch fear and stress responses in broiler (meat) chickens. Applied Anim. Behav. Sci., 152: 44-51.
Archer, G.S., H.L. Shivaprasad and J.A. Mench, 2009. Effect of providing light during incubation on the health, productivity and behavior of broiler chickens. Poult. Sci., 88: 29-37.
Bruhn, S.L. and C.L. Cepko, 1996. Development of the pattern of photoreceptors in the chick retina. J. Neurosci., 16: 1430-1439.
Cooper, C.B., M.A. Voss, D.R. Ardia, S.H. Austin and W.D. Robinson, 2011. Light increases the rate of embryonic development: Implications for latitudinal trends in incubation period. Funct. Ecol., 25: 769-776.
Cooper, J.B., 1972. Effect of light during incubation on hatchability of Turkey eggs. Poult. Sci., 51: 1105-1108.
Dimond, S.J., 1968. Effects of photic stimulation before hatching on the development of fear in chicks. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol., 65: 320-324.
Ghatpande, A., S. Ghatpande and M.Z. Khan, 1994. Effect of different intensities of fluorescent light on the early development of chick embryos in ovo. Cell. Mol. Biol. Res., 41: 613-621.
Hill, W.L., K.L. Bassi, L. Bonaventura and J.E. Sacus, 2004. Prehatch entrainment of circadian rhythms in the domestic chick using different light regimes. Dev. Psychobiol., 45: 174-186.
Huth, J.C. and G.S. Archer, 2015. Effects of LED lighting during incubation on layer and broiler hatchability, chick quality, stress susceptibility and post-hatch growth. Poult. Sci., 94: 3052-3058.
Isakson, S.T., B.J. Huffman and P.B. Siegel, 1970. Intensities of incandescent light and the development of chick embryos in ovo and in vitro. Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 35: 229-235.
Ozkan, S., S. Yalcin, E. Babacanoglu, S. Uysal, F. Karadas and H. Kozanoglu, 2012. Photoperiodic lighting (16 hours of light:8 hours of dark) programs during incubation: 2. Effects on early posthatching growth, blood physiology and production performance in broiler chickens in relation to posthatching lighting programs. Poult. Sci., 91: 2922-2930.
Rogers, L.J. and G.A. Krebs, 1996. Exposure to different wavelengths of light and the development of structural and functional asymmetries in the chicken. Behav. Brain Res., 80: 65-73.
Shafey, T.M., 2004. Effect of lighted incubation on embryonic growth and hatchability performance of two strains of layer breeder eggs. Br. Poult. Sci., 45: 223-229.
Shafey, T.M. and T.H. Al-Mohsen, 2002. Embryonic growth, hatching time and hatchability performance of meat breeder eggs incubated under continuous green light. Asian-Australasian J. Anim. Sci., 15: 1702-1707.
Shafey, T.M., H.A. Al-Batshan, M.M. Ghannam and M.S. Al-Ayed, 2005. Effect of intensity of eggshell pigment and illuminated incubation on hatchability of brown eggs. Br. Poult. Sci., 46: 190-198.
Veterany, L., S. Hluchy, R. Toman and L. Babikova, 2007. The effect of white and monochromatic lights on chicken hatching. Zootehnie Biotehnologii, 40: 412-416.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Asian Network for Scientific Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
