The Effect of Light on Body Weight and Feed Conversion of Broilers

Abstract

The body weights of 7 to 9 month-old White Leghorn males were observed by Lamoreux (1943) to be significantly greater when light was restricted to less than 9 hours per day. Siegel et al. (1961) reported significantly heavier body weights and better feed conversion in White Leghorn pullets at 8 weeks of age when restricting light to 6 hours per day compared to 14 hours of light per day. In a study with broiler chickens, Moore (1957) found that faster growth was obtained up to 3 or 4 weeks of age with continuous light although feed efficiency was slightly better with less light throughout the growing period. A series of experiments reported by Shutze et al. (1960) indicated that birds exposed to continuous light were superior in body weight gain to those on the other light regimes with the exception of one experiment in which chick growth response to 2 …