Impact Light Regimen and Melatonin on Growth Performance, Welfare and Physiological Parameters of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of lighting program and melatonin on growth performance, welfare, and some physiological characteristics of broilers. A completely randomized design involved 2 photoperiods (constant lighting 24 L:0 D). and intermittent lighting 4 L:2 D) periodically for group one and two respectively, the third group the birds were to continuous lighting 24 hours with the addition of the melatonin 20 mg/kg of diet. A total of 180 unsexed one-day-old ROSS 308 broiler chicks randomly divided into three treatments with three replicates (20 birds per replicate). The results showed a significant superiority in the body weight and weight Gain of the intermittent light treatments and the addition of melatonin compared to the control treatment for broilers at 21 days. No significant differences in growth performance for broilers at 38 days, and there were no significant differences in dressing percentage, relative weight of the internal organs, temperature of the bird’s body parts, biochemical characteristics, and hormones, except for the significant decrease in the level of ALT for birds treated with melatonin and when raising birds under a lighting program. Intermittently, there was an improvement in the level of antioxidants through a decrease in MDA. There was a significant improvement in the measures of welfare, as the incidence of inflammation of the hock burn and Footpad dermatitis decreased. Results above suggest that the raising broilers under intermittent lighting system and treatment with melatonin did not affect production performance, but it improved the status of antioxidants and welfare Indications for broilers.