Performance and preference of broiler chickens exposed to different lighting sources

Abstract

SUMMARY Vision is important in poultry behavior and welfare. Poultry have highly specialized visual systems, and the majority of their behavior is mediated by vision. In the present study, we evaluated the lighting preference of broiler chickens exposed to different lighting sources and their production performance. In the first portion of the study, we evaluated the preference of birds for white and yellow lighting provided by light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. Bird preference was assessed by videos recorded during the experiment. In the second portion of the study, we evaluated the performance of broiler chickens exposed to LED and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Performance was assessed in terms of mortality rate, bird BW, daily BW gain, feed consumption, and feed conversion. The chickens occupied environments with yellow and white LED lighting evenly and did not show any behavioral sign of preference for one of the environments. However, birds presented greater feed consumption at 21, 28, and 35 d of age when exposed to white LED lighting. Generally, birds exposed to LED lighting presented better production performance than birds under the CFL. Seven-day-old male chickens presented better feed conversion under LED illumination than did males of the same age under CFL.