Influence of photoperiod and light intensity on egg performance of Japanese quails

Adnan Memon

doi:10.19045/bspab.2018.700150

Abstract

The study was conducted to observe the influence of photoperiod and light intensity (LI) on egg production of Japanese quails. A total of one hundred (n=100) quails were divided into five groups (A1,A2, B1, B2 and C) according to the regime of light intensity and photoperiod during growing period (GP) and laying period (LP) i.e. A1 kept at LI (80 luxes (GP) for 8 hrs. and 240 luxes (LP) for 16 hrs.), A2 kept at LI (20 luxes (GP) for 8hrs. and 60 luxes (LP) for 16 hrs.), B1 kept at 5 luxes (GP) for 16 hrs and 15 luxes (LP) for 20hrs, B2 kept at 5 luxes for 12hrs. (GP) and 15 luxes for 18hrs (LP). The group C was considered as control. The Quails of group B1 produced highest egg production (70.25%), hen day egg production (73.62%) and egg width (25.12 mm) as compared to other groups. FCR (1.23) and egg weight (11.20 g) was better in group B1 among all the groups (p>0.005). Higher egg size was recorded in the group A1 (32.15 mm) and lower in group C (30.12 mm). The egg weight was highest (p>0.05) in the group B1 (11.20 g) and lowest in group A1 (9.00 g). It was concluded that, better FCR and feed intake was observed at LI (80 luxes (GP) for 8 hrs. and 240 luxes (LP) for 16 hrs, respectively and photoperiod 16 hrs. at 5 luxes during laying period and 20 hrs. at 15 luxes during laying period. Keywords: Egg Production; Light Intensity; Photoperiod; Quail http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2018.700150

Highlights

Introduction requirement (200-250 and 150-200 cm2 in Japanese quails are small game birds that are litter and cage system respectively), less widely used for commercial eggs and meat feed requirement (20-25 g/adult bird/day), production [1]
The current experiment was designed to investigate the effects of photoperiod and light intensity and their suitable regime for the maximum performance of Japanese quail
Birds were distributed into five groups according to light intensity and photoperiod regime during growing period (GP) and laying period (LP) as following; A1 kept under the light intensity of 80 luxes for 8 hrs. (GP) and 240 luxes for 16 hrs. (LP), and A2 under the light intensity of 20 luxes for 8 hrs. (GP) and 60 luxes for 16 hrs. (LP)

Summary

Introduction

Introduction requirement (200-250 and 150-200 cm2 in Japanese quails are small game birds that are litter and cage system respectively), less widely used for commercial eggs and meat feed requirement (20-25 g/adult bird/day), production [1]. Was non-significant (p>0.05) among all Results regarding hen day egg production groups. According result of Boon et al [10] who examined the to findings, the quails of group B1 showed influence of five different lighting regimes maximum day egg production followed by and found that less exposure of photoperiod Egg length (mm) The egg length of Japanese quail showed the little variation under different light and photoperiod regime and results are illustrated in (Figure 3).

Results

Conclusion