Abstract
Environmental conditions including light are considered a critical element of chicks well-being. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of LED light on the physical traits of chicks. We took forty-one-day-old chicks and randomly separated it into two groups. The chicks in the first group were reared under the effect of incandescent lamp light and in the second one were under the effect of white LED lighting. Chicks were daily monitored for individual chick body, weight gain, feed intake, feather color and fear responses. The distance between chicks and source of light was 50 cm. Student’s t-test test was used for statistical evaluation at p < 0.05 level. The results of the current study showed that chicks reared under incandescent light bulb had significantly higher body weight compared with chicks reared under LED light. The magnitude of body weight in LED group was lower (1192.75 ± 149.9 g) compared to incandescent light group (1307.75 ± 110.5 g). The obtained results revealed that LED light reared chicks were more active; it showed long mobility duration and high levels of exploration in the farm as compared to those in incandescent light group. The results also indicated that incandescent light chicks were less fearful than LED chicks. Furthermore, the study showed that LED light reared chicks have pale pink combs and white feathers that cover all over the body. On the other hand, incandescent light reared chicks have dark red combs and whitish-yellow feathers that cover certain areas of the body especially chick wings, tail and head.
Highlights
light emitting diode (LED) showed an effect on body weight in comparison with ICD light
At the end of the experiment, the results showed that chicks’ weight was significantly higher (p = 0.009) in the chicks reared under ICD light than the chicks reared under LED light
There was significant difference in chicks weight between the two groups, chicks reared under ICD light were significantly heavier than those reared under LED light at the age of 28 days
Summary
Lighting is a powerful factor in chicks growth [1] as producers want to provide appropriate culturing conditions, such as ventilation, humidity, temperature and illumination, for chicks to reach their full optimum growth. Another major factors such as light source type, light intensity, organization of the photoperiod (light-dark cycles), and the wavelength of light are all worth considering [2]. It has been found out that light manipulation has been an effective measure to improve chick production [1] [3]. Welfare, growth rate and performance, chicks’ vision and modulation of physiological condition, behavior and immune response [1] [4] [5] [6] [7]
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